Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is set to join the Donald Trump-led US government this week — partnering with Vivek Ramaswamy on a project to slash the size of the federal government. There has also been renewed interest in his personal life and work ethics as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO becomes a permanent fixture in news headlines.
“I was married…I was married…to a man who became extremely successful. And as I watched him rise, I noticed two things. He worked very hard, much harder than your average bear. And he said no a lot,” his ex-wife Justine Musk reportedly said during a TedX talk in 2014.
She had met the businessman at Queen’s University in Ontario and they eventually married in 2000. The couple tragically lost their first child to sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks. They went on to have five more children through IVF — twins in 2004 followed by triplets in 2006. The loss of their son and the subsequent birth of five more children as well as Musk’s growing role in the business world.
Details about their messy divorce — outlined by Justine Musk in a 2008 essay — have also come under the spotlight ahead of the inauguration.