HE’S the richest man on Earth, with an estimated fortune of £210billion, and has now taken charge of the global chatroom that is Twitter.
But Elon Musk – who has splashed out £33billion on his latest acquisition – recently revealed the secret heartache behind his eye-watering fortune.
Speaking in a Ted Talk interview, he gave a rare glimpse into his past when he admitted he was bullied as a child over his Asperger’s Syndrome.
“I did not have a happy childhood to be frank,” he said. “It was quite rough.”
The tech mogul added that the condition, which means sufferers struggle to understand social cues and have ordered, rigid thinking patterns, was a ‘gift’ because it led him to a career in computing.
“I think most people don’t enjoy typing strange symbols into a computer by themselves all night,” he said.
“They think that’s not fun, but I thought it was. I really liked it. I would just program all night by myself and I found that be quite enjoyable. But I think that is not normal.”
Since then very little has been “normal” in Musk’s life – from his “fluid” relationship with rapper Grimes, with a secret surrogate child and separate houses, to his plan to colonise Mars.
Relishing in the unconventional the 50-year-old mogul, who once smoked weed on a web show – claims to have sold or given away all his houses and possessions and moving into a £50,000 house owned by his company, SpaceX.
He has also been plagued by tragedy – losing his first child to sudden infant death syndrome before turning to IVF to have twins and then triplets with first wife Justine.
But the Tesla boss – who recently declared his new work title as “Techno-king” – seems to have a desire for world domination which may stem from a lonely childhood.
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