AI Narration Listen 00:000.5x0.75x1x1.25x1.5x2xThank you for your feedback.Your feedback has been reported succesfully.Maye Musk, the 78-year-old mother of Elon Musk, sleeps in the garage when she visits her son at Starbase, SpaceX’s rocket site in Texas. While speaking to the New York Post, she said that a roof over her head is all she requires. “That’s a luxury,” she said. Maye grew up camping in the Kalahari […]4 min readOct 17, 2026 02:49 PM IST First published on: Oct 17, 2026 at 02:49 PM IST ShareWhatsapptwitterFacebookElon Musk’s mother sleeps in her son’s garage at Starbase. (File Photo)Maye Musk, the 78-year-old mother of Elon Musk, sleeps in the garage when she visits her son at Starbase, SpaceX’s rocket site in Texas. While speaking to the New York Post, she said that a roof over her head is all she requires.“That’s a luxury,” she said. Maye grew up camping in the Kalahari Desert, and she moved from couch to couch until she was 60. She has now written a memoir, “Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age”, published by Harper Wave.A mattress and a roof are enoughElon Musk is known for having no fixed home. He often stays with friends or in basic temporary housing. His mother lives in a similar way.“If I have a couch or a mattress on the floor, then I’m good,” Maye told the Post. On her visits to Starbase, she sleeps in the garage.She has spoken about this before. In 2022, she told The Times of London: “You can’t have a fancy house near a rocket site.” In 2023, she wrote on X about nights spent on floors, couches and a garage bed, and said it was still better than childhood nights in the Kalahari, with lions and hyenas close by. Earlier this year, she said the fridge at Starbase held no food and there was only one towel. She left it for Elon.Story continues below this adRaising three children aloneMaye had her three children, Elon, Kimbal and Tosca, with Errol Musk. In her book, she describes Errol as physically and emotionally abusive. Errol denied the claims in an interview with the New York Times last year, the Post said.After she left him, Maye worked several jobs to pay the bills. In South Africa, and later in Toronto, she worked as a private dietitian, taught nutrition and modelled. She said a family can do without dinners out, films and smart clothes, as long as no one is shouting at them.Elon Musk’s mother sleeps in her son’s garage at Starbase. (File Photo)At 50, she moved to New York to put her modelling first. She said people there “walk fast, they talk fast, they think fast”. In 2022, she became the oldest woman to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She is now a face of CoverGirl.Work at 78, with no teamMaye lives in downtown New York. She spends four hours each morning on her social media pages and on screening offers for modelling and speaking jobs. She has no team and does the work herself. She said her seventies have been her best years.Story continues below this adIn the coming weeks, she will travel for shoots and talks in Hong Kong, Austin, Buenos Aires and Shanghai. She rejects the idea of retirement and says she is having the best time.Her view of Elon and the pressMaye said she cannot help much with her eldest son’s work. Years ago, he came down to breakfast and told her he had been up all night designing rockets. All she could offer, she said, was scrambled eggs.Most ReadShe also described a softer side. When Elon is with his children, she said, no one else exists for him and he just plays with them. She called him a genius.Elon has become a political figure who divides opinion. The Post said activists have threatened to bomb one of Kimbal’s restaurants and have damaged Teslas at dealerships. Maye said she tracked down reporters on X and tagged them when she thought their stories were unfair. She said it gave her some comfort but did not stop the coverage.Story continues below this adShe also spoke about immigration. Her father and grandparents were American, but she was born in Canada. She spent about 12 years on visas before she got a green card, and five more years before she became a citizen. “You just cry,” she said of the day she got it.AdvertisementLoading Recommendations...AdvertisementLive BlogJailer 2 Box Office Collection Day 2 Live Updates: Rajinikanth film witnesses 40 percent drop, earns Rs 209 cr26 minutes agoIndia News Live Updates, 17 October 2026: One dead, several injured as DTC bus collides with multiple vehicles in Delhi53 minutes agoIran-US War Live News Updates: CENTCOM says US controls Hormuz, blocked $25 billion in Iran oil exports2 hours agoIndia News 16 October 2026: Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora detained, Delhi CJP protest ends with scuffles17 hours agoJailer 2 Collection Day 1 Live: Rajinikanth’s actioner earns over Rs 140 crore17 hours agoAdvertisement