May Musk: the mother of a genius or a woman who never gave up

May Musk’s life is a testament to tenacity, willpower, and fortitude. She is not only the mother of Elon Musk, one of the most creative minds of our time, but she is also a strong woman who has never back down from a challenge. Despite the many challenges she has faced, she has always managed to overcome them.

May Musk has demonstrated that perseverance and hard work can triumph in the face of adversity, having navigated her own career path as a model and dietitian and raised three prosperous children as a single mother. Her life demonstrates that perseverance and grit are just as important to success as brilliance.

Despite her amazing accomplishments, it’s still unclear if she is the mother of a genius or the real example of never giving up.

Topic Details
Early Life May Musk was born in Canada and raised in South Africa. She became a model at a young age and pursued a career in nutrition.
Career Struggles Despite setbacks in her personal life, May never gave up, working hard as a dietitian and building her modeling career in her 60s.
Mother of Elon Musk May raised her three children as a single mother. She instilled in them values of hard work, perseverance, and curiosity.
Role Model May is a living example of resilience, proving that age and circumstances don’t limit success.

In addition to being the mother of a well-known genius, May Musk is a strong woman who has overcome numerous challenges in her personal and professional life. Her tale is one of tenacity and tenacity, from being a single mother of three to starting over in a new nation. Despite the difficulties, May Musk persevered, demonstrating that paving your own route with courage and grace is just as important to success as raising successful kids.

Childhood of Maye Musk

Mae Musk (Haldeman) was born on April 19, 1948, together with her twin Kay, in Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada). The girls" parents had five children together. Joshua"s father, Norman Haldeman, was a chiropractor and an extraordinary person in general, he loved to travel and did not strive to adhere to generally accepted norms. His mother, Winnifred Josephine Fletcher, fully supported all his endeavors and herself happily plunged into adventures. Mae"s parents met in Regina after the end of the Great Depression, at the Wynne Dance School, which she opened, while working at the local newspaper from the age of 16 and studying dance in Chicago, New York and Vancouver.
During the Great Depression, Joshua had to treat people for food and break horses for a roof over his head. But none of the Haldeman family ever was despondent.

There is nothing that Haldeman could not handle, my father stated repeatedly. And his family had always supported it. May was able to instill this belief in her kids, and these days, Musk is capable of handling anything.

Although May’s childhood was not typical, it was undoubtedly joyful and full of adventures. First, it was spent exploring the Kalahari Desert in South Africa for a mysterious city. When the twins were two years old, the family relocated from Canada to Pretoria, South Africa, in 1950.

Her parents owned their own plane, too. The family didn’t have much money. However, Joshua could not resist the temptation to trade in the car he was driving for the plane he saw with a "For Sale" sign in a farmer’s field. Thus, May’s father, who was 44 at the time, acquired a plane that was in use. At three months old, the girl took her first flight on it.

In addition, the parents had originally intended to relocate to Johannesburg, South Africa, since English was widely spoken there. But as the family flew over Pretoria, they were mesmerized by the jacarandas that were blooming and covering the entire area like a purple carpet. The Haldemans chose to settle here even though they were all required to learn Afrikaans, which is the local language.

Similar to their treatment in Canada, the May family members in South Africa were viewed as peculiar individuals and even called eccentrics due to their unconventional approaches to life.

The Haldeman family was well-known for their transparency and self-reliance, and rumors about their plane and unusual travels spread throughout the neighborhood.

No one was offended by skewed looks, and May’s parents carried on with their necessary actions. It’s true that they were unable to locate the lost desert city. However, they frequently brought their kids along when they traveled by plane to sixty different countries. Every journey and flight was meticulously planned and organized. This was insufficient one day, many years later, as Joshua Norman Haldeman and his son-in-law, Kay’s husband, perished in the crash of their own plane.

Smart or beautiful?

May inherited her mother"s attractive appearance and her father"s tall stature. She was always smiling, free in public, and had a graceful figure. Exactly what a model needs. At the age of fifteen, the girl entered the world of catwalks and photo shoots.
At that time, she did not seriously think about becoming a model, she considered this option as a part-time job. After all, a career in the fashion world is usually fast-paced and short-lived. May, however, wanted to get a serious basic education that would feed her in old age. She liked medicine, microbiology, biochemistry. The choice was made in favor of dietetics. The girl delved into her studies and completely forgot about filming: "I had to study well to prove that I was not stupid, because many people are used to thinking about models like that".

During her third year, May was entered into a beauty contest by one of her classmates. She also prevailed. Additionally, she continued her studies as a nutritionist and advanced to the finals of the "Miss South Africa-1969" pageant in 1969 at the age of 21.

Could she have known back then that she would go on to become one of the most sought-after older models? However, May also started earning money from her career in dietetics. Occasionally, the girl found it so hard to balance her studies and her filming that she was nearly unable to handle her desire to give up science. She managed, though, and went on to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in dietetics.

Personal life of Maye Musk

Mae began dating Errol Musk, her future husband and father of children, at the age of sixteen, and had known him since she was eleven. They constantly quarreled because of Errol"s betrayals and hot temper, parted for a long time, and May had no plans to marry him.
But Musk was a persistent person, capable of doing anything to fulfill his plans. When May rejected the engagement ring presented to her along with Errol"s hand and heart, he did not give up. He went to Pretoria to see his beloved"s parents (May was working and living in another city at the time) and told them the good news – he was engaged to their daughter, the bride was in happy anticipation, and they needed to prepare for the wedding. And just then Kay was getting ready to marry her old friend. Double wedding! All the relatives of the bride, who was in the dark, began to prepare for the celebration. And May found out that her wedding would take place in a month from a telegram. Not wanting to upset her loved ones, May, who was twenty-two, agreed to get married, but already at the wedding she regretted it – the groom was aggressive and behaved disgustingly.

During the honeymoon, two things happened – May became pregnant, and Errol raised his hand to his wife for the first time. She does not like to remember the period of marriage, because the physical and psychological violence from her husband did not stop for many years. The presence of Errol"s children did not bother her. And like many victims, May kept silent, hid the situation from her family, experiencing a feeling of shame and fear. When everything came to light, the man was intimidated by May"s relatives. Physical violence in the family stopped, but moral violence worsened. The laws of South Africa at that time were not on the side of the young woman – everything that was happening was not considered a good reason for divorce.

The family welcomed three children: Elon, the eldest, on June 28, 1971; Kimbal, the son, on September 20, 1972; and Tosca, the daughter, on July 20, 1974.

At twenty-six, May had three children, an unhappy marriage and the inability to do what she loved. She was still being invited to act, but she usually refused because of the marks of beatings on her body.
The family was not poor. Errol turned out to be a talented engineer and a good businessman. There was prosperity in the house. But it did not bring joy to the young woman. In 1979, a law was finally passed that allowed May to get a divorce, and she filed for divorce. The eldest child, Elon, was eight years old at the time. So May became a single mother at the age of thirty-one. The bruises finally went away, and she resumed her modeling career. It turned out that even older models (she was already “old” for a regular one) are sometimes needed for shooting.
Some time after the divorce, May and her children moved to Toronto, Canada. Financially, she had to rely only on herself. Her ex-husband, who, according to a court decision, had to give the family five percent of his income and cover the costs of the children, did not do this. At first, she counted on savings stored in South African banks. However, due to the country"s policy of preventing the outflow of population from the country, all her accounts were frozen after the move. She had to somehow live and raise three children. And then her weight began to grow rapidly.

Even after giving birth to her third child, the immaculately dressed May appeared to be in good shape from the outside. She actually went through tough times when she gained twenty or more kilograms by eating her way out of psychological discomfort. This also occurred following the divorce.

A model’s career was on the line if she lost her figure. However, May managed to get out of this predicament as well; she rose to prominence as one of the first plus-size models.

This woman never gave up because her parents had given her a strong sense of self-worth. She managed, and her career as a nutritionist also started to pick up steam after obtaining a license that was good in both Canada and the United States. May just tried again after failing. And again, if need be, multiple times. She occasionally had to work five jobs at once. She worked as a nutritionist and model for courses and master classes at the University of Toronto in addition to filming and practicing her profession.

What about her private life, too?

May was so unlucky when it came to men that her sister Kay dubbed her "a magnet for idiots."

She achieved success in all areas but love. May took inspiration from her friends, family, and job.

How to raise a genius

Even before her oldest son Elon became well-known, Maye Musk rose to fame. Naturally, though, her notoriety cannot be compared to that of the world’s richest man. Because of this, she is only known to many as the mother of a genius. Nevertheless, given that all three of Maye’s children went on to achieve success, she undoubtedly has the right to offer guidance on how to raise a brilliant child. Family support, the sense of confidence that the Haldemans and now the Musks seem to pass on by inheritance, was crucial in addition to genetics.

The kids just were unaware that they might not be successful in anything. Desire? Develop a plan and follow it.

Their mother worked nonstop, so they all had to learn independence early on. "I worked so that we had a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, and at least some clothes," the person said, not feeling guilty about it. The kids needed to learn how to keep themselves busy so they wouldn’t disrupt me while I worked.

May didn"t treat her children like little ones, she allowed them to make mistakes and learn from them, respected their choices, and gave them the opportunity to show responsibility. The qualities that were prioritized were kindness, hard work, and independence. She did not dictate to the children what to study, what subjects to choose at school, and did not check homework. Was it wisdom or lack of time – the question is. But it worked. The daughter independently chose a high school for herself, and the sons applied to universities. All of them could have studied for free at the university where their mother taught, but none of them wanted to take the path of least resistance.

They were troublemakers on a regular basis, just like all kids. Elon was the most rule-breaker. He was skilled at maneuvering around them. Because of his reputation as a know-it-all among his peers, the boy did not enjoy much popularity.

"A young prodigy who had an unquenchable curiosity and a photographic memory irritated everybody." He had been physically assaulted until he passed out and was harassed at school.

The boy abruptly made the decision to live with his father when he was ten years old, and Kimbal May followed him a few years later. Elon later regretted his choice. Furthermore, even though he acquired a very valuable and uncommon item at the time—a personal computer—it did not entirely improve his life with Errol, who persisted in his bad habits and badgered the kids:

"It’s unbelievable how bad of a person he was! There was always something bad my father was up to. He orchestrated this evil.

During an interview, his father clarified that the reason for his son’s strong emotional response to the case was likely that Errol had to kill three robbers who had broken into the house.

What about May, too? When the kids went for weekends or vacations with their father, not to mention moving, she felt incredibly alone. Errol took the kids on vacations but did not provide money for upkeep. Additionally, he invited his ex-wife to travel with him, but even though she enjoyed traveling to new places, she never forgot that he had the power to sabotage any enjoyment. In order to spend her weekends with her children, May returned to South Africa after the boys moved in with their father.

After Elon and Kimbal made the decision to relocate to Canada following their high school graduation, Maye was reunited with her sons. Sadness trailed behind them.

The kids went through challenging academic years filled with moves, dorms, falling in love, and both successful and unsuccessful projects. And Maye was by their sides the entire time, encouraging them in everything. Plane tickets were an essential expense for her since they allowed her to visit her children, who had relocated to different cities.

Mae Musk"s Children

Ilan Reeve Musk, Mae’s oldest son, turned fifty today. At the age of twelve, he wrote his own computer game and won his first large sum of money. And when he sold the business Zip2, which he and Kimbal founded, he became extremely wealthy at the age of 29. The brothers gained easy access to this money, which nearly cost the future billionaire his life. With his share of $22 million, Elon purchased an expensive car, which he barely survived after smashing the same day. Next came PayPal’s financial revolution, generating $1.5 billion in revenue. Green Tesla electric vehicles are an additional investment. This large-scale endeavor was not profitable at first, but it eventually turned a profit.

Elon decided to colonize space and started the SpaceX project after realizing there are no boundaries to the realization of his dreams. Elon Musk’s current net worth is estimated to be $185 billion. He’s been married twice before and is presently dating Claire Boucher (Grimes).

Elon Musk is the father of six children: one from Grimes and five from his first wife, Justine Wilson. The unusual name X Æ A-12 was given to the youngest child.



Kimbal Musk, aged 48. He is now a prosperous restaurateur who supports using products from farms. He was Elon’s business partner at first. He is currently forging his own path in the food sector. The catchphrase of Kimbal is "Food is the new Internet." He developed the Learning Gardens project to instruct kids in gardening.

Kimball and artist Jen Levin are parents to three children. She is married to Christiana Wylie, an environmental activist, for a second time.

The age of Tosca Musk is 47. She is a renowned program producer and director of plays and movies. She made the decision, at 37, to use IVF to become pregnant, and Maye was totally in favor of it. She went on to have twins.

Maye Musk is the mother of three children and grandmother of eleven grandchildren. Her true wealth and pride lie in this.

May Musk’s narrative serves as a potent illustration of tenacity, resolve, and unwavering self-belief. Her life was characterized by her persistence in pursuing her own goals and aspirations rather than just her son’s success.

Through her experiences as a single mother raising three successful children and overcoming numerous obstacles in her career, May Musk demonstrated that tenacity can result in remarkable accomplishments at any point in life. Her story serves as a reminder that our own perseverance and personal strength can influence not only our own trajectories but also those of coming generations.

Whether she is remembered as the mother of a genius or as a woman who never gave up, May Musk’s legacy demonstrates that hard work, bravery, and an unwavering spirit are the keys to success in a variety of endeavors.

Video on the topic

A woman who has a plan | Interview with Maye Musk

She survived domestic violence and raised a genius. The life story of Maye Musk

May Musk: the mother of a space genius, the victim of a domestic tyrant, a model at 72 // Let"s talk?..

What way of spending family time do you like the most?
Share to friends
Olga Sokolova

Experienced pediatrician and consultant on children's health. Interested in modern approaches to strengthening the immune system, proper nutrition and child care. I write to make life easier for moms and dads by giving proven medical advice.

Rate author
Sverbihina.com
Add a comment