- Timeless by Maye Musk( HQ £20, 224pp ) is available now
It’s hard to believe, but the family of Elon Musk – today officially the world’s wealthiest man – were once penniless.
asserted
family → ’ → Musk
Elon’s mother, Maye, would worry about how to pay the monthly rent.
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mother → worry → rent
This was because Maye was a divorcee in conservative Pretoria, raising her children, Elon, Kimbal and Tosca, ‘mostly on my own’.
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Maye → raise → own
Her former husband, Errol, refused to pay alimony – and comes across in this book as a total monster who ‘gave me my first bruises on our honeymoon’.
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who → refuse → honeymoon
From Saskatchewan originally, Maye had moved with her parents to South Africa when a toddler.
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Maye → move → Africa
She remembers camping in the Kalahari and being menaced by hyenas – but Errol, whom she married in 1970, when she was only 22, was worse than any hyena.
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she → remember → hyena
Model: Maye has been hired for fashion shows, parading up and down the catwalk, six outfits in 30 minutes
Errol created an atmosphere of menace.
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Errol → hire → menace
He was ‘immediately aggressive and controlling’, punching Maye’s arms, knocking her to the ground, and telling her in public she was ‘slow and incompetent’.
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she → punch → public
He stopped her from having contact with her own parents, as ‘abusers will often try to shut out the people who might help you’.
uncertain
who → stop → you
When the divorce eventually went through, after nine years, Errol turned up in Maye’s flat brandishing a knife.
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Errol → go → knife
Maye tells us, ‘I became quiet, introverted.’
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I → tell → us
She managed to qualify as a nutritionist, gaining a Masters degree, becoming an expert in amino acids, kidney function, diabetes and the biochemical reactions that break down and release the energy stored in food.
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that → manage → food
It was a struggle, trying to earn a living while setting up her dietary practice.
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It → try → practice
Against this volatile, unhappy background (‘We all lived in fear of Errol’s temper’)
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We → live → temper
Elon was, and who can blame him, ‘socially awkward’.
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who → blame → him
He was, says his mother, ‘a total bookworm’, though books and encyclopaedias soon gave way to video games and computers.
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books → say → games
Physics and maths came easily to him, and ‘he was often quiet and lost in thought’.
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he → come → thought
He did not make friends easily, seeming not to need them.
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He → make → them
Wanting to put her energies into bringing up and nurturing her children, Maye took the big step of returning to Canada.
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Maye → want → Canada
‘Living with little income and lots of hope is better than being scared and miserable forever,’ she reasons in this memoir.
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she → live → memoir
By 1989, Maye had built up a successful consultancy, giving advice on eating disorders, in conjunction with doctors, hospitals and gyms.
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Maye → build → doctors
Elon and Kimbal, meanwhile, had set their sights on Silicon Valley, where they’d soon become significant innovators.
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they → set → Valley
Starting out in a decrepit office, sleeping on the floor and using the toilet facilities at the YMCA, Elon and his brother created online city guides, with door-to-door directions and interactive maps.
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Elon → start → directions
Maye, who visited as often as possible, did the laundry, the shopping, and covered basic office expenses, such as equipment and printing.
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who → visit → equipment
In 1999, the business was sold for $307 million.
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business → sell → million
Maye’s reaction was to behave as if nothing had changed.
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nothing → behave → ?
‘We washed and ironed all the sheets, made the beds, laundered the towels, vacuumed the carpet.’
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We → wash → carpet
In fact, her sons were now able to buy her an apartment in New York and a puppy.
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sons → buy → York
‘As dog lovers, we must learn to accept we’ll have 12 years of absolute joy, two years of vet’s bills, then devastating, heartbreaking loss.’
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we → learn → bills
Incidentally, if there have been any men in Maye’s life since Errol, she doesn’t mention them.
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she → mention → them
Even when her son's sold their business for $307 million, Maye’s reaction was to behave as if nothing had changed.
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nothing → sell → million
‘We washed and ironed all the sheets, made the beds, laundered the towels, vacuumed the carpet.’
Elon and Kimbal were not destined to remain partners, as they’d physically fight, ‘and I had to pull them apart’, says Maye.
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Maye → wash → them
‘This behaviour had to change if they were going to keep leading companies.’
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they → have → companies
Kimbal went off to Colorado to be a chef and run restaurants.
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Kimbal → go → restaurants
(Tosca, in her turn, went to Hollywood to be a producer.)
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Tosca → go → Hollywood
Elon’s destiny we know.
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we → know → ?
He started an online bank, which became PayPal.
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which → start → bank
He bought Twitter.
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He → buy → Twitter
As a green energy pioneer, he owns Tesla, developing electric cars, solar power and rockets.
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he → own → cars
‘To this day, he hardly sleeps,’ says his mother – though the insomnia has provoked health scares, jaundice, fever, and a nasty strain of malaria.
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insomnia → sleep → malaria
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
