Elon Musk’s Father Accused in Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Three separate police investigations were initiated, according to police and court documents, as well as family testimonies. Two investigations concluded without clear outcomes, while the result of the third remains unknown. Errol Musk, now 79, has not been convicted of any crime.

These abuse allegations have severely strained the Musk family. Some relatives have sought assistance from Elon Musk, Errol Musk’s eldest child. Around 2010, one relative sent Elon Musk a detailed five-page letter outlining some of the accusations and pleading for his intervention.

“We desperately need your advice, help, and guidance in these matters because we witness these children suffering daily,” the relative wrote in the letter, which The Times reviewed.

It is uncertain whether Elon Musk read the letter. However, an assistant later contacted a family member after these abuse allegations were brought to his attention. The billionaire has also provided financial support for his stepfamily and siblings from his father’s third marriage. At one point, he tried to ensure these family members remained in California, away from Errol Musk. He was not directly involved in the police investigations in South Africa.

Errol Musk, who has at least nine children and stepchildren from three marriages, still exerts significant influence over much of his family. The former stepdaughter, who first accused him of touching her at age 4, later had a child with him in her 20s. She has struggled with drug addiction, while her mother — who married Errol Musk twice — has faced mental health challenges.

Errol Musk has “left a deep scar on our family,” stated Elmie Smit, whose sister was his third wife, in her first on-the-record interview about the allegations. She mentioned emailing Elon Musk about some of the claims and occasionally receiving responses from an assistant.

When approached by The Times, Errol Musk dismissed the reports as “false and nonsense in the extreme.” He claimed the accusations were fabricated by family members “putting the children up to say false things” and attempting to extract money from Elon Musk.

In an email to The Times, Errol Musk stated he was aware of only one abuse allegation, yet in the same message, he provided explanations for the circumstances surrounding two other incidents.

He also asserted that he and Elon Musk maintain a close and positive relationship.

Elon Musk and his personal lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. In 2017, the billionaire became emotional when he told Rolling Stone magazine that his father had committed “almost every evil thing you could possibly think of.” In a 2023 authorized biography by Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk reportedly stated he does not communicate with Errol Musk.

The Times reviewed court and police documents from jurisdictions in California and South Africa, along with over 50 emails, text messages, personal notes, and letters, which detailed certain accusations more explicitly than others. Police and courts in South Africa and Los Angeles declined to release some records, citing children’s privacy, while other records could not be found.

The Times also conducted interviews with family members, social workers, and individuals close to the Musks. Some requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of their situations, and others feared retaliation. Other family members either declined to comment or did not respond. The Times adheres to a policy of not naming children involved in sexual abuse cases.

In recent months, some family members have expressed anger over Errol Musk’s perceived attempts to leverage Elon Musk’s fame. Errol Musk has reportedly discussed involvement in a meme coin called MuskIt and plans for a Musk tower in Dubai, although he later told The Times he was “not associated” with these projects.

Throughout this, some family members claim he has downplayed or falsified their family history. Ms. Smit explained her decision to speak out after Errol Musk’s interview in February on a South African podcast, “Wide Awake,” where he spoke about his life without acknowledging any family strife.

In June, Ms. Smit appeared anonymously on the same podcast, where she detailed some of the abuse allegations, including the 1993 incident involving Errol Musk’s 4-year-old stepdaughter.

The stepdaughter, now 37 and a mother of several children, addressed the situation publicly for the first time with The Times. She did not answer questions regarding the abuse allegations but confirmed that she and her children do not live with Errol Musk.

“My kids are safe and looked after,” she affirmed.

She stated that Elon Musk provides her primary financial support, sending money monthly and having bought her a car. “Elon has always been there,” she said.

In 2022, their son, then around 5 years old, reported being groped by his father, according to family members.

“He said, ‘dad gropes his behind,’” Ms. Bezuidenhout, the boy’s grandmother, texted a relative around 2023. “He screamed, ‘no dad.’” Relatives contacted the police, as recently as last year, through text messages and emails.

A social worker involved stated in an interview that she attempted to meet with family members to discuss the incident, but they were uncooperative. The social worker then contacted the police.

Police initiated an investigation, confirmed by family members who provided a case number. A police spokeswoman verified the case number was for child sexual abuse allegations but declined to name individuals involved. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the case due to insufficient evidence, the spokeswoman added.

In response to The Times, Errol Musk declared, “There was no evidence because this is nonsense.”

Around 2023, Elon Musk began providing 30,000 rand a month (approximately $1,700) to support his former stepsister, family members revealed.

That year, Elon Musk also made a rare public comment about Errol Musk on social media. In response to a post about his financial background, Elon Musk stated that a condition for him and Kimbal Musk to support their father was that Errol Musk would refrain from bad behavior.

Their father “nonetheless did,” Elon Musk wrote.

Three marriages

Errol Musk once appeared to be a rising figure.

Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa’s executive capital, he built prominence as a businessman in his 20s and 30s, including as a partner in an engineering company. He also served as a Pretoria City Council member.

In 1970, he married Maye Haldeman, a dietitian and model. They had three children: Elon; Tosca Musk, who now operates a streaming service for romance films; and Kimbal Musk, who became an entrepreneur.

Errol Musk and Maye Musk divorced in 1979. In her 2019 memoir, Maye Musk documented physical and verbal abuse from him, which Errol Musk denied to The Times.

Elon Musk also experienced a strained relationship with his father. In the 2023 authorized biography, he recalled an incident during childhood where he stood up to a school bully, lost the fight, and was subsequently berated by Errol Musk for an hour.

“He lost it, went ballistic, as he often did,” Elon Musk recounted. “He had zero compassion.”

Despite choosing to live with Errol Musk for much of high school after his parents’ divorce, Elon Musk later told his biographer it was a terrible decision. “I didn’t yet know how horrible he was,” he said.

Errol Musk had a brief second marriage to model Sue Wilson. In 1989, a 17-year-old Elon Musk left South Africa for North America, followed by his brother, sister, and Maye Musk.

Around 1992, Errol Musk married for a third time to Heide-Mari Bezuidenhout, who was about 19 years his junior. She brought three young children — two boys and a girl — from her first marriage, after her husband’s death in a car accident. Ms. Bezuidenhout reportedly struggled with mental health issues, according to family members. She and Errol Musk soon had a daughter together.

In 1993, Ms. Bezuidenhout’s 4-year-old daughter from her previous marriage told her aunt, Ms. Smit, that Errol Musk had placed her on a row of trash cans at their Pretoria home and touched her. Ms. Smit and other relatives immediately informed the authorities.

Police launched an investigation. Family members provided a case number, which South African police confirmed. The Times filed a public records request for the case file in July, but a decision is pending.

Ms. Bezuidenhout later dropped the charges against Errol Musk as part of a divorce settlement, which included a house, car, and monthly allowance, according to family members and the 2010 letter to Elon Musk seeking his help.

After the divorce, Errol Musk claimed a judge granted him custody of their young daughter, and that two judges dismissed the abuse allegations. He stated Ms. Bezuidenhout could only visit with a social worker present. The Times could not find court records or judges to verify Errol Musk’s claims.

In 1996, Ms. Bezuidenhout briefly remarried and divorced. Following a period of depression, she entered a psychiatric hospital, as per family accounts. Her three children from her first marriage were placed in an independent welfare home.

Around 1999, she remarried Errol Musk, who retained custody of their daughter. Her three other children left welfare care in 2000. The following year, Errol Musk and Ms. Bezuidenhout had another daughter.

Coming to Los Angeles

By 2002, Elon Musk had become a millionaire after his Silicon Valley start-up, which evolved into PayPal, was acquired by eBay. Living in Los Angeles, he founded the rocket manufacturing company SpaceX.

That same year, Errol Musk, Ms. Bezuidenhout, and their combined family visited Elon Musk in California, where he purchased a $2 million house for them in Malibu.

Within a few months, the situation deteriorated.

One day, as Errol Musk’s stepdaughter, then 14, was retrieving her forgotten sweatshirt before a family movie outing, she reportedly discovered her stepfather sniffing her dirty underwear in her bedroom. This account comes from family members and personal notes. The police were called, and Elon Musk was also informed.

Family members reported filing a complaint with child protective services in Los Angeles. A department spokeswoman declined to comment, citing victim privacy. The Los Angeles Police Department also refused a records request, stating investigation records were exempt from public disclosure.

A restraining order was issued against Errol Musk, as confirmed by three individuals knowledgeable about the filing. Ms. Bezuidenhout filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing “irreconcilable differences” and seeking custody of the children. The petition was dismissed in 2009 due to inaction.

Errol Musk denied the accusation, claiming he was cleaning his stepdaughter’s room after a trip and found the house “in a terrible state.”

The stepdaughter recounted that during her time in Malibu, Elon Musk would take her and her siblings on weekly outings if they excelled in school, emphasizing the importance of reading many books to succeed in life.

Following the abuse allegations, Elon Musk first moved his father to a boat in Los Angeles, then back to South Africa. Errol Musk asserted he left the United States voluntarily and stated that his estrangement from his eldest son began around this period.

Elon Musk reportedly wanted to keep the children in California to protect them from his father, according to family members and friends, and even explored seeking legal guardianship of them.

Back in South Africa, Errol Musk became financially dependent on his eldest sons. He emailed Elon Musk requesting money.

“I am now totally dependent on your card here,” Errol Musk wrote in the email, which The Times obtained.

Kimbal Musk, who was copied on the email, replied, “Financially, this has been horrible, but much worse for Elon than you. Not just in absolute dollars (which are considerable) but in the pain and frustration.”

“The scariest thing that I’ve learned is that the kids preferred living in the children’s home than with either you or Heide,” Kimbal Musk added, referring to the independent welfare home.

In the 2023 biography, Elon Musk told his biographer that his father had been “uncomfortably attentive” to his stepdaughter at the time and that he was furious about Errol Musk’s “inappropriate behavior.”

‘A very difficult situation’

In 2003, Ms. Bezuidenhout and four of her children voluntarily returned to South Africa, their perceived home, according to family members. (Her eldest son followed later.) She then divorced Errol Musk for a second time in 2005. The following year, her younger son, age 16, died in a car accident near Malmesbury, South Africa. Around 2007, she wrote to Elon Musk, describing herself as being “in a very bad situation” and living in a house without a bathroom or kitchen.

Elon Musk, who became CEO of the electric car manufacturer Tesla in 2008, paid a contractor to repair Ms. Bezuidenhout’s house and install a fence, family members confirmed. He also covered private school tuition for his half-sisters, as indicated in emails.

Simultaneously, the former stepdaughter’s life spiraled into drug use, which she attributed to the grief over her brother’s death. She served jail time for allegedly stealing jewelry from Errol Musk and Ms. Bezuidenhout to fund her drug habit, according to family notes.

By 2009, Ms. Bezuidenhout had reconnected with Errol Musk, bringing her children back into his life. One evening, the former stepdaughter, then 21 and home from college, reported that Errol Musk kissed her and put his tongue in her mouth, as stated in her application for an interim protection order.

“I do not want him to be allowed to come near me,” the former stepdaughter wrote in the interim protection order, which was granted by the Magistrate’s Court for the district of Stellenbosch.

In his defense to The Times, Errol Musk claimed his former stepdaughter “pounced” on him in a spare bedroom while he was asleep, stating she “inappropriately kissed me.”

In the interim protection order, the former stepdaughter also made direct, though undetailed, accusations that Errol Musk had sexually abused his two daughters with Ms. Bezuidenhout and his stepson years before the stepson’s death. The letter Ms. Bezuidenhout wrote to Elon Musk around 2007 also mentioned abuse allegations by one of her two daughters with Errol Musk. The relative who wrote to Elon Musk around 2010 echoed these same allegations as the interim protection order.

Errol Musk dismissed the accusations of abusing his stepson as “nonsense” and those concerning his two daughters as “absurd.”

The former stepdaughter dropped out of college and further succumbed to drug addiction, according to family members and notes. She told The Times that the childhood trauma she endured directly led to her substance abuse.

In 2011, Ms. Smit, Ms. Bezuidenhout’s sister, sought Elon Musk’s help. His assistant responded, conveying that she had spoken with the billionaire and that “it goes without saying that you are all in a very difficult situation there.” The assistant described the circumstances of Errol Musk’s former stepdaughter as “dire” and informed them that Elon Musk would fund her stay in a rehabilitation clinic.

The former stepdaughter attended rehab for a week or two, as confirmed by family members. For a period, she experienced homelessness.

30,000 rand

Errol Musk’s former stepdaughter later contacted him for support. By then, she was approximately 29 years old. They became intimate, as Errol Musk stated in a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times.

He described himself and his former stepdaughter as “lonely, lost people,” adding, “One thing led to another — you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan.”

Errol Musk has asserted in interviews that he had not seen his former stepdaughter for years, a claim disputed by family members. He also claimed they had children together in 2017 and 2019, but refused to tell The Times how many children he had with her, stating it was “none of your business.”

The former stepdaughter confirmed she has one child with Errol Musk. She also stated she has been drug-free for several years, attributing this life change to having children. Family members noted she has accepted some financial support from Errol Musk for their son.

In 2022, their son, then about 5 years old, alleged he had been groped by his father, according to family members.

“He said, ‘dad gropes his behind,’” Ms. Bezuidenhout, the boy’s grandmother, texted a relative around 2023. “He screamed, ‘no dad.’” Relatives contacted the police, as recently as last year, through text messages and emails.

A social worker involved stated in an interview that she attempted to meet with family members to discuss the incident, but they were uncooperative. The social worker then contacted the police.

Police initiated an investigation, confirmed by family members who provided a case number. A police spokeswoman verified the case number was for child sexual abuse allegations but declined to name individuals involved. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the case due to insufficient evidence, the spokeswoman added.

In response to The Times, Errol Musk declared, “There was no evidence because this is nonsense.”

Around 2023, Elon Musk began providing 30,000 rand a month (approximately $1,700) to support his former stepsister, family members revealed.

That year, Elon Musk also made a rare public comment about Errol Musk on social media. In response to a post about his financial background, Elon Musk stated that a condition for him and Kimbal Musk to support their father was that Errol Musk would refrain from bad behavior.

Their father “nonetheless did,” Elon Musk wrote.