His deeds are full of legends, and his figure is all over the well-known fields. As such a deified figure by netizens, his mother's life can be described as "hard core".
Her name is Mel Musk.
Meyer has a good background. His father opened a farm and massage clinic in Canada in his early years.
When she was young, her father was tricked into emigrating to South Africa. This grandfather has no other hobbies, but he loves exploring everywhere. He also has a propeller plane, and he takes his family to road trip to fly the plane every year. (elon musk mentioned this South African life in his autobiography)
Meyer was born with beauty. She became a model at the age of 15, showing amazing talent. 2 1 year-old, participated in the Miss South Africa beauty contest and won the first championship.
Life that is about to begin cannot be as smooth as ordinary people. Young Meyer couldn't stand the enthusiastic pursuit of her neighbor's childhood friend and high school classmate errol for more than ten years, and soon fell in love and became a full-time wife.
After marriage, errol gradually revealed the essence of scum male, with a serious tendency of domestic violence. It is common practice to fight for three days and five days. I was dragged by my husband to paint the house with two barrels of paint, but my husband accused me of affecting the progress.
But in South Africa, at that time, South African law stipulated that women could not apply voluntarily. Meyer endured domestic violence and gave birth to three children.
Elon musk, the eldest son, kimble Musk, the second son, and Tosca Musk, the youngest daughter.
Six years later, the South African government amended the marriage law to allow the woman to file for divorce, provided that she kept tidy when she left home. But compared with such a family environment, she resolutely left her husband.
Meyer, who lost material support, was poor from a middle-class family. In addition to three children, there are a lot of bills, as well as a set of ultra-small houses in remote areas, which have to pay a large sum of money every month and have nothing. The husband also refused to provide alimony.
But this is the moment when her life really begins.
Looking back on that time, Meyer mentioned: "You may think life is hard, but it's not for me, because my children are happy to have peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. Look, I don't need to spend a lot of money. I am frugal and can wear second-hand clothes. So that's not a problem, but it's unwise to wronged women for money. "
However, human energy is limited. Even if he works five jobs, she really can't take care of the baby like most mothers. These three children are basically in the state of stocking. I also got three master's degrees in nutrition between working and raising children.
The three brothers and sisters are also very competitive, and the housework at home will basically not be left to Meyer. If you have time, organize a group to do something to subsidize your family. Meyer basically doesn't have to worry about their education, and he won't interfere too much. He just brought the child into the role of "family partner" with himself. Try to meet their needs.
During this period, the ex-husband repeatedly sued Meyer for ten years, only to regain custody of the children. However, in young elon musk's mind, the scene of her father kicking her pregnant mother with all his strength is vivid, and fate binds her mother and son more closely.
Meyer said: "I would rather walk into court again and again, prepare documents again and again, and face the fear of losing my child again and again than live in constant fear."
Even if I have several jobs, I can only sleep on the floor and have only bean soup for dinner.
At this time, she worked harder, working two jobs during the day and taking care of the work of a consultant. In the evening, I will study for a master's degree in dinner preparation. I'm going to take the modeling job when I have time.
In this painful day that ordinary people can't bear, Meyer is extremely happy. Outsiders feel that talking to him is like a spring breeze, and they can't imagine that her life is so difficult.
For her, expectations will not be lost.
Musk later said in an interview: "My mother has always been a person who has done her best for life. The more headstrong and attractive she is.
The eldest son, Elon, makes inventions from time to time. The second son likes cooking, and the third son is keen to join the drama club. As long as the children ask, Ma Mei will try her best to satisfy them, even if she emptied her wallet.
She has always maintained such an attitude in educating children. When Elon was 24 years old, she was studying at Stanford University. One day, she had a whim and decided to drop out of school and start a business. Without saying anything, Ma Mei didn't blame her son, but took out all her savings at that time, totaling 1 ten thousand dollars, to support her son.
Supporting children to drop out of school with all their savings at home is still not understood by most parents.
But it was so tight that Meyer spent ten years trying to save two houses bit by bit and live a life with a car and a deposit.
Just as the days were getting better and better, elon musk, the eldest son, came up with the idea of studying business in North America.
After a period of thinking, Meyer decided to support Elon's idea. In her eyes, Elon's ideas are also very important, and she needs to respect him. So the whole family decided to immigrate to Canada first and then to the United States.
According to the laws of South Africa at that time, it was not only difficult to immigrate, but also assets were not allowed to be taken away. In other words, once she immigrates, Meyer, who has worked hard for decades, will once again be poor and return to the days when she has several jobs.
Most people would refuse, but Meyer decided to go to Canada to see the situation first.
When Meyer returned to South Africa, a dramatic scene appeared. The youngest daughter sold all the family RVs while Meyer was away. What greeted her home was a lot of property transfer agreements waiting for her to sign.
In this case, ordinary parents will definitely arrange an ideological education.
Meyer's "hard core" makes her so ordinary. After settling down, she signed the agreement with alacrity. Sold all his assets.
Careful friends found that since money can't be taken away, why sell assets?
Meyer later recalled this incident and said that the younger daughter's move was to make her determined to leave South Africa. South Africa is not allowed to exchange money into foreign currencies, and they can't take anything of value with them.
After that, they rented a very small house in Canada. How small is it? There is only one bed in the room, and Ma Mei is a family of four. She sleeps in bed with her daughter and her two sons sleep on the sofa. Life once again fell from the sky to the ground.
After that, I moved around and finally settled in new york.
But fortunately, the child has grown up. 1995, after dropping out of school, elon musk founded Zip2 company with his younger brother.
1999, Compaq, an American computer manufacturer, bought Zip2 with $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options. Elon musk, 28, made a profit of $22 million in this acquisition. With the first bucket of gold, the two brothers did not forget to buy a house and a car for their mother, and the family finally looked forward to a happy day.
Since then, the children and his story line have gone to two ends, and each has gone to his own ideal.
Elon musk, the eldest son, later expanded his assets through paypal investment, acquired Tesla and operated conceptual new technologies such as rocket recycling business, satellite link plan and brain-computer communication.
The youngest son, Kimble Musk, founded a green chain restaurant, and his daughter, Tosca Musk, owned a film and television company, and all three became billionaires.
At this point, Meyer, who entered the old age, officially began to pursue the ideals of his youth. When she was over 60 years old, she came to new york, which immediately triggered a fashion wave.
Besides, she is a plane model. Her photos are very large, and she is an extremely rare old mannequin in the modeling field. She also appeared on the covers of top magazines such as Time, Fashion and Bazaar, and endorsed international brands such as Tiffany.