In 2018, Elon Musk faced sig­nif­i­cant per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al chal­lenges, notably illus­trat­ed through his inter­ac­tions with the media and his appear­ance on the Joe Rogan show. David Gelles, a reporter from the New York Times, engaged Musk in a reveal­ing inter­view where Musk shared the toll his work was tak­ing on his per­son­al life, men­tion­ing sleep­less nights at the fac­to­ry and less­er time with his chil­dren. Musk also refut­ed claims of any asso­ci­a­tion with dis­graced financier Jef­frey Epstein. This inter­view show­cased a rare vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, lead­ing to height­ened con­cerns about Musk’s health and Tes­la’s lead­er­ship sta­bil­i­ty, caus­ing Tes­la’s stock to plunge by 9 per­cent.

Musk’s deci­sion to appear on Joe Rogan’s pod­cast was an attempt to address pub­lic spec­u­la­tions about his men­tal state. The inter­view, remem­bered for Musk’s con­tro­ver­sial on-air con­sump­tion of mar­i­jua­na, fur­ther affect­ed Tes­la’s pub­lic image and prompt­ed a NASA inves­ti­ga­tion due to SpaceX’s asso­ci­a­tion. This episode also revealed Musk’s play­ful side, as he brought a not-a-flamethrow­er to the show, embody­ing his ten­den­cy to inter­twine seri­ous­ness with humor, a trait that extends to his ven­tures and pub­lic per­sona.

This peri­od also high­light­ed strains in Musk’s rela­tion­ship with his broth­er, Kim­bal, who had been a long-stand­ing sup­port­er. A dis­agree­ment over finan­cial sup­port for Kim­bal’s busi­ness led to a tem­po­rary rift, show­cas­ing the intense pres­sures and per­son­al chal­lenges the Musk broth­ers faced amidst their pro­fes­sion­al endeav­ors.

Key Tes­la exec­u­tives, includ­ing JB Straubel, Tes­la’s co-founder, and key fig­ures like Jon McNeill and Doug Field, exit­ed the com­pa­ny dur­ing this tumul­tuous time. Straubel’s depar­ture, after 16 years with Musk, was par­tic­u­lar­ly notable, under­scor­ing the impact of the intense stress and Musk’s mer­cu­r­ial nature on his clos­est allies and the com­pa­ny’s lead­er­ship sta­bil­i­ty. This chap­ter por­trays Musk as a com­plex fig­ure fac­ing immense pres­sures, bal­anc­ing immense ambi­tion with per­son­al vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties, and expe­ri­enc­ing both strain and sup­port in his pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al rela­tion­ships.