# Musk family
The Musk family is a family with roots in Canada and South Africa whose members have settled across South Africa, Canada, and the United States, and who include [Elon Musk](https://www.edgepedia.org/elon-musk), born 1971 in Pretoria, as well as his parents and siblings.[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origins | Maye Musk (née Haldeman) born in Saskatchewan, Canada; her parents moved the family to Pretoria, South Africa, in 1950[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) |
| Parents' marriage | Errol Musk, an engineer, married Maye Haldeman in 1970; divorced 1979[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) • [4](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-parents) |
| Children of Errol and Maye | Elon (b. 1971), Kimbal, and Tosca, born in three consecutive years[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) • [5](https://www.rfi.fr/en/stern-south-african-childhood-fuelled-musk-s-ambition-says-father) • [2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) |
| Emigration | Elon left South Africa in 1988 at 17, avoiding military service; became a Canadian citizen that year and an American citizen in 2002[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) |
| Elon's children | 14 reported as of 2025, with Justine Wilson, Grimes, Shivon Zilis, and Ashley St. Clair as reported mothers[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749) • [3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) |
| Family business | Zip2, co-founded by Elon and Kimbal, sold in 1999 for $307 million[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832) |
| Philanthropy | Musk Foundation (space exploration, renewable energy); Big Green, Kimbal's nonprofit, with hundreds of school gardens[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) |
## Origins and South African years
The maternal line runs through the Haldeman family. [Maye Musk](https://www.edgepedia.org/maye-musk) was born in [Saskatchewan](https://www.edgepedia.org/saskatchewan), Canada, to Joshua and Wyn Haldeman; in 1950, when she was 7, her parents moved the family from [Regina, Saskatchewan](https://www.edgepedia.org/regina-saskatchewan), to Pretoria, South Africa.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) • [9](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced) She had four siblings.[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) In 1952 the Haldemans flew the family around the world in a propeller plane.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) A genealogical compilation reports that Elon was named after Maye's American grandfather John Elon Haldeman, who died in 1909.[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/)
In Pretoria, Maye became a model and met [Errol Musk](https://www.edgepedia.org/errol-musk), an engineer.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) The genealogical compilation dates their marriage to 1970.[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) The couple had three children in three years: Elon, then Kimbal, then Tosca.[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir)
**The divorce.** Maye and Errol were married for nearly a decade before divorcing in 1979. Maye wrote in her book that she had wanted to end the marriage earlier; South Africa's Divorce Act was enacted in 1979.[4](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-parents) In her memoir she describes Errol as physically, financially, and emotionally manipulative and abusive.[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) After the divorce, Elon, then the oldest of three children, chose to live with his father, taking an overnight train alone when he moved in.[5](https://www.rfi.fr/en/stern-south-african-childhood-fuelled-musk-s-ambition-says-father) Errol said in an interview, "We were very wealthy. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," attributing part of the wealth to a half share in a Zambian emerald mine he owned.[4](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-parents)
## Emigration and geographic dispersion
Elon left South Africa in 1988 at age 17, against his parents' wishes, to attend university and avoid mandatory service in the South African military; he obtained Canadian citizenship that year and became an American citizen in 2002.[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) An AFP interview records that he left at the height of apartheid to avoid the unpopular army draft.[5](https://www.rfi.fr/en/stern-south-african-childhood-fuelled-musk-s-ambition-says-father)
Maye followed the children north. After the divorce she moved with them to Durban and, by 1989, to Canada, where she held citizenship.[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) • [9](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced) There she at one point worked five jobs: teaching at a nutrition college, a research post at the [University of Toronto](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-toronto), moonlighting at a modeling agency, giving nutrition talks, and running her own private nutrition practice.[2](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir) She continued modeling.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) In 2019 Elon bought her an apartment in New York City.[9](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced)
## Family members
**Maye Musk** is a Canadian model and dietitian.[5](https://www.rfi.fr/en/stern-south-african-childhood-fuelled-musk-s-ambition-says-father)
**Errol Musk** later married Heidi-Mari Bezuidenhout in 1992 and divorced in 2010, per the genealogical compilation.[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) Through him, Elon has four younger half-siblings: sisters [Alexandra](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandra) and Asha Rose from Errol's marriage to Heide Bezuidenhout, and brother Elliot "Rushi" and another sister, whom Errol shares with his former stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
**Kimbal Musk** co-founded the online city guide platform Zip2 with Elon, sold in 1999 for $307 million.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832) He launched the nonprofit Big Green in 2011 and founded the urban indoor farming company Square Roots in 2016.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
**Tosca Musk** is co-founder and CEO of Passionflix, a streaming service and production company that adapts romance novels into films.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
**Elon Musk's children.** Musk married Justine Wilson (2000–2008) and [Talulah Riley](https://www.edgepedia.org/talulah-riley) (2010–12; 2013–16).[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) He became a father in 2002 when Wilson gave birth to their son Nevada Alexander, who died at 10 weeks old.[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749) The couple went on to have five more children: twins Vivian and Griffin, and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian.[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749) Biography.com lists his children as Nevada, Vivian, Griffin, Kai, Saxon, Damian, X Æ A-Xii, Strider, Azure, Exa, Techno, Arcadia, Seldon, and R.S.C.[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) As of 2025 reporting, Musk is reported to have 14 children.[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749) The genealogical compilation lists children with [Neuralink](https://www.edgepedia.org/neuralink) executive [Shivon Zilis](https://www.edgepedia.org/shivon-zilis) (twins born 2021, plus Arcadia, born 2024, and Seldon, born 2025), giving the twins' names as Strider and Alice, while Biography.com lists Strider and Azure.[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) • [1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk)
## Business and philanthropic activities
The family's shared business history begins with Zip2, the online city guide platform Elon and Kimbal co-founded and sold in 1999 for $307 million.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832) Kimbal's later ventures are in food and agriculture: The Kitchen restaurant group (2004), the Big Green nonprofit (2011), and Square Roots (2016).[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832) Big Green builds outdoor "learning gardens" in schools; one account says it has planted hundreds of gardens in school playgrounds starting in Colorado, another puts the count at 200 learning gardens across the United States.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family) • [9](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced)
Elon founded the [Musk Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/musk-foundation), dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of renewable and clean energy sources.[1](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk) Tosca's Passionflix, founded 2017, streams film adaptations of romance novels.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
## By the numbers
- Zip2 sale price, 1999: $307 million.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
- Elon Musk's reported children: 14 as of 2025 reporting.[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749)
- Twins with Shivon Zilis, reported in November 2021 by [Business Insider](https://www.edgepedia.org/business-insider).[10](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/07/elons-heirs-who-musks-10-children-mothers/)
- Big Green learning gardens: 200 built across U.S. schools per one account; "hundreds" per another.[9](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family)
## What has changed since 2023
The publicly reported count of Elon Musk's children rose to 14 in 2025 reporting, reflecting births after late 2023.[6](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749) The genealogical compilation places Arcadia, born 2024, and Seldon, born 2025, with Shivon Zilis.[3](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/) On the business side, Square Roots, Kimbal Musk's urban indoor farming company, shut down most of its locations in July 2023.[7](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
## References
1. [Elon Musk: Biography, Entrepreneur, SpaceX and Tesla Founder, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk)
2. [What Maye Musk's Memoir Can Teach Us About Elon, InsideHook](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/elon-musk-childhood-revealed-maye-musk-memoir)
3. [Elon Musk Family Tree and Ancestry, Select Surnames](https://selectsurnames.com/musk-elon/)
4. [Elon Musk's Parents: Who Are Errol Musk and Maye Musk?, Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-parents)
5. [Stern South African childhood fuelled Musk's ambition, says father, RFI/AFP](https://www.rfi.fr/en/stern-south-african-childhood-fuelled-musk-s-ambition-says-father)
6. [Elon Musk's 14 Children: All About the Tesla CEO's Sons and Daughters, People](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749)
7. [Elon Musk's Siblings: All About Brother Kimbal and Sister Tosca Musk, People](https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-siblings-kimbal-tosca-musk-7643832)
8. [Meet the Musks: who's who in Elon's extended family?, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/meet-elon-musk-family)
9. [Untangling Elon Musk's Fiery Dating History, E! Online](https://www.eonline.com/news/1385546/untangling-elon-musks-fiery-dating-history-and-the-11-kids-it-produced)
10. [Elon's heirs: A who's who of Musk's 10 children and their mothers, The Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/07/elons-heirs-who-musks-10-children-mothers/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Relationships and social issues › Kinship and family › Family structure and change › Family structure — overview and general treatments*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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