Elon Musk needs to stop throwing temper tantrums and acting like a spoilt child, his father Errol Musk said.
The 72-year-old South African engineer has not spoken to his billionaire son in more than a year, ever since welcoming a child with a woman 42 years his junior.
Errol opened up about his strained relationship with Elon in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, saying Elon needs to get over himself.
"Elon needs to grow up. He needs to get over himself. I’m not going to hit back. I’m going to wait until he comes to his senses. He’s having a tantrum, like a spoilt child. He can’t have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster."
Earlier, Elon had called his father an evil person and a terrible human being. Talking to Rolling Stone, Elon said his father had committed every crime one could think of.
Commenting on this, Errol said he was once charged with manslaughter for shooting dead three men who broke into his home. But he was acquitted after pleading self-defence. "I’m not an evil person," he said. "I have nothing to regret. I’m just a father who loves his son – and all his children – and is happy to know they are safe and healthy and secure."
Errol says getting his 30-year-old girlfriend Jana pregnant and welcoming a baby son with her may have upset Elon. "Of course, I love him dearly, even though it wasn’t planned," the scientist said about his infant son. "In my own cautious way I insisted on a DNA test to ensure he was mine. I told my daughter Ali about him because I thought she would be supportive and understanding. She said I was insane, mentally ill. She told the others and they went berserk. They think I’m getting senile and should go into an old age home, not have a life full of fun and a tiny baby."
The father-son duo is also said to have clashed on Errol's decision to move back to South Africa from America.
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