Errol Musk Says His Son, Elon Musk, Is a Bad Dad — Details

The phrase "daddy issues" is almost always relegated to women who are perhaps not doing their best when it comes to who they choose to date. To be clear, the only daddy issue there is the dad who had some issues and obviously made mistakes. Unfortunately, it has become an insult widely used against women whenever their behavior is perceived as unacceptable. Here's the thing, though: Anyone can have daddy issues, including men.

In February 2025, Elon Musk's father was a guest on the Wide Awake Podcast where he gossiped about his son and their controversial family like he was at a slumber party with his best mates. All that was missing was a Ouija Board and a mud mask. Speaking of mud, Errol Musk was slinging it around with reckless abandonment when it came to answering questions about his son Elon. One of the more shocking reveals was Errol sharing that he thinks his son is a bad dad. Let's get into it.

When asked outright if Errol thinks Elon is a good dad, the elder Musk flat out said nope. "He hasn't been a good dad," he said calmly. "The first child was too much with nannies, and died in the care of a nanny." Errol then went on to essentially attribute Elon's bad parenting to the fact that he always relied on too many nannies.

Errol casually suggested if Elon heard what he said, he might "shoot [him] or something," but that didn't stop this tough papa from laying in on his son. "They were too rich," he shared while referencing the plethora of nannies that were apparently raising Elon's children. After his first child died, Elon had five kids with the same woman, all of which had their own nanny.

According to Errol, by the time Elon and Justine Wilson divorced, they had six children together. Those six children had their own nannies at each household. If you're doing the math, that's 12 nannies total. Host Joshua rightfully inferred that Elon probably didn't end up spending a ton of time with his kids due to all the Mary Poppins gals milling about. "No," said Errol.

In May 2018, Barrett Riley and Edgar Monserratt Martinez, both 18, were killed when the 2014 Tesla Model S Barrett was driving crashed into a concrete wall. Barrett was going 116 miles per hour when it happened and both were fine due to the vehicle's airbags deploying. Sadly they died when the Tesla's lithium batteries caught fire. Barrett's father, James, then filed a lawsuit against Tesla.

According to court documents obtained by The Economic Times, Elon sent a message to James in which he was sympathetic to the loss of a child. "My firstborn son died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat," he wrote. "There's nothing like losing a child." He was referring to the death of his first son, Nevada Alexander Musk.

In November 2022, Elon posted a similar message to X which prompted someone to ask if Nevada died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Elon's ex-wife, and Nevada's mother, responded with more information. "It was a SIDS-related incident that put him on life support," she wrote. "He was declared brain-dead." She continued, "I was the one who was holding him."