Elon Musk Shut Down After the Death of His First Child and Never Wanted to Discuss It

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has 11 children with three different women, one of whom was his wife. The other two women had six children between them. It's unclear how Elon has the time to run DOGE, X, Tesla, and SpaceX all while posting to his own social media platform at a relentless clip.

Errol Musk, Elon's father, has one theory about how his son is probably able to get so much done despite having almost a dozen children who undoubtedly could benefit from his attention. In February 2024, the elder Musk went on the Wide Awake Podcast where he was asked if Elon is a good dad. He said no and immediately brought up the death of Elon's first child. Here's what we know.

Errol said Elon's first child was "too much with nannies and died in the care of a nanny." He went on to say that there were always too many nannies in Elon's household. Although it sounds as if Errol is making a connection between a nanny and the death of Nevada Alexander Musk, the two were not related. He got the story wrong.

In September 2010, Elon's first wife Justine Musk published an essay in Marie Claire in which she described herself as his "starter wife." The two met when they were at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. Elon was a year ahead of Justine and was already the "scientific type." They never actually dated in college but connected after graduation. One night at dinner, Elon asked Justine how many kids she wanted. She said two, but four works if she had nannies. Elon said he assumed there would be.

They married in January 2000 and two years later, Nevada was born. The same week Elon sold PayPal for $100 million, Nevada "went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing." The 10-week-old infant was already brain-dead by the time paramedics were trying to resuscitate him. He spent three days on life support before dying in Justine's arms. Nevada's cause of death was sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

According to Justine, Elon had no interest in discussing the death of their son. "I didn't understand this, just as he didn't understand why I grieved openly, which he regarded as 'emotionally manipulative,'" explained Justine. In order to process what had happened, Justine decided she wanted to get pregnant again. Less than two months after Nevada's death, she was at an IVF clinic.

Justine would go on to have five children, twins and then triplets. Unfortunately, according to Justine, Elon was obsessed with his work, and when he was at home with his family, he was completely shut down. They eventually divorced and when it came to their kids, Justine said she always dealt with Elon's assistant.