Elon Musk's mother recalls days when world's richest man used to wear same suit everyday

Maye Musk reminisced about her family's financial struggles while raising three children as a single mother.

Mother of billionaire Elon Musk, Maye Musk, shared a peek of her family's financial hardships decades ago as she pondered on a period when they lived simply.

Elon Musk and his mother Maye (AP)

In reaction to a picture of the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla posted on X with the description, "Elon Musk in 1990," Maye Musk described the events that led up to the picture. In front of a painting in a small flat, the image depicts a youthful Elon Musk dressed in a black suit, white shirt and tie.

"My mom's painting was on the wall when this picture was shot at our rent-controlled apartment in Toronto. A complimentary shirt, tie, and socks were included with the $99 suit price. "A fantastic deal," she wrote.

Maye Musk claimed that he wore the suit to work every day and that it was his only one at the time.

He wore this outfit to his Toronto bank job every day. A second outfit was out of my price range. We were content," she remarked.

Maye Musk, a 76-year-old dietician and model with a five-decade career, has been open about her challenges as a single mother of three children following a challenging divorce from her violent husband, South African engineer Errol Musk.

The Musk family first immigrated to Canada from South Africa before relocating to the US. Despite financial difficulties, Maye put forth a lot of effort to support her kids throughout these years.

We would purchase used clothing. We were unable to pay to dine out. I gave them sandwiches with peanut butter. My children adored it! In her biography, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success.

She has also discussed the difficulties her family encountered, including protracted wait times and legal obstacles, during the US immigration process.

Maye Musk has expressed her distaste for terms like "wealthy" and "billionaire," which she believes diminish her son's accomplishments, despite Elon Musk's extraordinary success.

"I find the terms "rich" and "billionaire" demeaning, thus I dislike them. In a recent interview, she declared, "I believe he is the world's genius."

Even Elon Musk has adopted a thrifty lifestyle. He declared on X in 2020 that he would sell all he owned and "own no house."

He is also a minimalist when it comes to his hospitality; Maye Musk once recalled that when she visits with him, she sleeps on sofas or in the garage.

Musk's ex-partner Grimes had previously discussed his frugal lifestyle in an interview with Vanity Fair. He recommended relocating a mattress from her house instead of buying a new one to replace the broken one, she recounted, after the couple found a hole in their mattress.