56. Family Life

In May 2020, Elon Musk’s per­son­al life under­went a sig­nif­i­cant change with the birth of X, his son with Grimes, mark­ing the first of three chil­dren they would have togeth­er. X brought a unique calm­ness to Musk, often accom­pa­ny­ing him to work meet­ings and SpaceX launch­es. Their rela­tion­ship was char­ac­ter­ized by a bond that respect­ed per­son­al space, reflect­ing Musk’s own upbring­ing.

Musk and Grimes had cho­sen the name X Æ A‑12, an amal­ga­ma­tion sym­bol­iz­ing ‘the unknown vari­able’, ‘AI or love’, and a ref­er­ence to a favorite air­craft of Musk’s, indica­tive of their dis­tinc­tive approach to nam­ing. This peri­od also illu­mi­nat­ed Musk’s fam­i­ly dynam­ics, high­light­ing his inter­ac­tions with his old­er chil­dren. Each child dis­played dif­fer­ent inter­ests and tal­ents, rang­ing from math­e­mat­ics to clas­si­cal music, yet they all shared Musk’s inno­v­a­tive spir­it.

The fam­i­ly’s inter­ac­tions were affect­ed by var­i­ous chal­lenges, includ­ing Musk’s com­plex rela­tion­ship with his trans­gen­der daugh­ter, Jen­na, whose tran­si­tion to female and ide­o­log­i­cal dif­fer­ences cre­at­ed estrange­ment. This famil­ial rift, par­tic­u­lar­ly with Jen­na, led Musk to pub­lic dis­cus­sions and con­tro­ver­sial state­ments regard­ing trans­gen­der issues, reveal­ing his strug­gle with bal­anc­ing per­son­al beliefs and social per­cep­tions.

Musk’s approach to liv­ing under­went a rad­i­cal shift around the same time. Ini­tial­ly inhab­it­ing grand prop­er­ties, he chose to divest from near­ly all phys­i­cal pos­ses­sions, includ­ing his homes. This deci­sion was influ­enced both by a desire to lessen mate­r­i­al bur­dens and to respond to crit­i­cisms of wealth. He relo­cat­ed to Texas, liv­ing in more mod­est accom­mo­da­tions, sig­nal­ing a stark trans­for­ma­tion from his pre­vi­ous lifestyle.

By year-end, the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty for Musk and his broth­er Kim­bal to recon­nect, fol­low­ing a peri­od of estrange­ment. Despite Kim­bal’s sug­ges­tion to engage in an Ayahuas­ca cer­e­mo­ny, Musk opt­ed for a sim­pler recov­ery, empha­siz­ing their broth­er­ly bond over pro­found spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ences. This nar­ra­tive arc not only show­cas­es Musk’s evolv­ing per­son­al life but also under­scores the com­plex­i­ties of nav­i­gat­ing fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships amid pub­lic scruti­ny and per­son­al evolve­ment toward a more min­i­mal­ist lifestyle.