
Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world.
The 50-year-old SpaceX founder and Tesla magnate has joined the likes of Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Bill Gates to become one of only five 'centibillionaires' – someone with a personal fortune exceeding $100 billion – in the world.
But it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the controversial figure.
Watch a clip from Elon Musk's opening monologue on Saturday Night Live below. Post continues after video.
Born to model Maye Musk and electromechanical engineer Errol Musk, Elon Musk was raised in Pretoria, South Africa, alongside his younger brother, Kimbal, and younger sister, Tosca.
When Maye and Errol later divorced in 1980, Musk opted to move in with his father, who seemed "lonely". But soon afterwards, he realised it was "not a good idea".
"He was such a terrible human being. You have no idea," Musk told Rolling Stone.
"You have no idea about how bad. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done."
In recent years, Musk has refrained from speaking about his estranged father. (Errol Musk famously made headlines in 2018 after he welcomed a baby with his stepdaughter, who is 40 years his junior.)
But in Ashlee Vance’s 2015 biography, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Musk described his childhood as "like misery".
"[My father] is good at making life miserable – that’s for sure. He’s not a happy man," he said. "I don’t know how someone becomes like he is. It would just cause too much trouble to tell you any more."
Outside of family dramas, Musk had a tough time at school.
Elon Musk in 2004. Image: Getty.
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