If it’s true that money cannot buy happiness, one confirming data point was Elon’s mood when he became the person with the most of it.
He was not happy in the fall of 2021.
When he flew to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico for a birthday party Kimbal had organized for his wife Christiana in October, where Grimes performed as DJ, he shut himself in his room and played Polytopia much of the time.
“We were underneath this art piece with interactive lights dancing to beautiful music from Grimes,” Christiana says.
“I thought about how our good fortune was thanks to Elon, but he just couldn’t let himself enjoy the moment.”
As often happened, his mood swings and depression were manifest as stomach pains.
He was throwing up and had intense heartburn. “Any great docs you’d recommend?” he texted when he cut short his visit to Cabo. “They don’t need to be famous or fancy offices.” I asked if he was all right. “I’m not super OK, tbh,” he responded. “I’ve been burning the candle at both ends with a flamethrower for a very long time. It has taken its toll. I was very ill this weekend.”
A few weeks later, he opened up more. We spoke for more than two hours, much of it about the mental and physical scars he still had in 2021:
From 2007 onwards, until maybe last year, it’s been nonstop pain. There’s a gun to your head, make Tesla work, pull a rabbit out of your hat, then pull another rabbit out of the hat. A stream of rabbits flying through the air. If the next rabbit does not come out, you’re dead. It takes a toll. You can’t be in a constant fight for survival, always in adrenaline mode, and not have it hurt you. But there’s something else I’ve found this year. It’s that fighting to survive keeps you going for quite a while. When you are no longer in survive-or-die mode, it’s not that easy to get motivated every day.
This was an essential insight that Musk had about himself. When things were most dire, he got energized. It was the siege mentality from his South African childhood. But when he was not in survival-or-die mode, he felt unsettled. What should have been the good times were unnerving for him. It prompted him to launch surges, stir up dramas, throw himself into battles he could have bypassed, and bite off new endeavors.
That Thanksgiving, his mother and sister flew to Austin to celebrate with him, his four older sons, X, and Grimes. Two of his cousins and his two half-sisters from his father’s second marriage were also there.
“We needed to be with him because he gets lonely,” Maye says. “He loves to have family around and we have to do that for him, you know, because he’s under so much stress.”
Source: Walter Isaacson's 'Elon Musk' (2023), chapter 67
🚨 JUST IN: Spencer Pratt MIC DROPS Gov. Gavin Newsom attacking Elon Musk for "turning his back" on California
"The guy who can’t even build 1 foot of train tracks with $120 BILLION and 7 years in office is trying to take shots at the guy who is landing rocket ships backwards and catching them in midair with chopsticks?"
🫳🏻🎤 @spencerpratt@elonmusk
Good riddance to CA!
Be honest… is Elon Musk actually a genius?
Not hype. Not hate. Just facts.
A) Yes — once-in-a-generation mind 🧠
B) Smart, but overrated
C) Just good at business
D) Not even close
👇 Real fans vs real opinions… let’s see who’s honest. 👇
BREAKING: Elon Musk donated $5 million to a super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor.
Ramaswamy has secured the Republican nomination and will face Democrat Amy Acton in November, per Business Insider.