Strained Relationship Between Elon Musk and Daughter Explored in Upcoming Biography
The forthcoming biography of Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, sheds light on the strained relationship between the billionaire entrepreneur and his daughter, reveals biographer Walter Isaacson. Isaacson, who meticulously followed Musk for over three years, shared an excerpt in The Wall Street Journal revealing Musk's struggle coming to terms with his daughter's disassociation from him.
According to the excerpt, Musk's discord with what he terms 'woke culture' partly roots back to his uneasy relationship with his eldest daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, who now goes by Jenna. Isaacson narrates that the disconnection deepened when Jenna transitioned and chose to cut off communication with her father. Musk, shockingly, discovered Jenna's transition not firsthand, but through a message sent to his brother's wife.
In the message, Jenna disclosed her transition and pleaded not to inform her father about it. The biographer mentions that while Musk was fairly understanding of Jenna's transition, the ceased communication stung him significantly.
Isaacson writes, "This disconnect left a mark on Musk, greater than any pain he'd felt since the tragic loss of his infant son Nevada." Musk had lost his firstborn son, Nevada, in 2002, a profound tragedy in his life. The disheartened father found out that his son had stopped breathing one fatal morning, a story earlier covered in a biography by Ashlee Vance.
Musk perceives the ideological differences between him and his daughter, originating from Jenna's educational experiences at Crossroads, a private school in Los Angeles. Publicly, Musk has shared similar sentiments. He expressed to the Financial Times that his daughter's disassociation from him was due to what he dubbed as the "full-on communism" ideologies taught in her school.
Following a Reuters report in June 2022, concerning Jenna's legal name change reflecting her gender identity and disassociation with her biological father, Musk described the ideological shift in his daughter as moving "beyond socialism to full communism" in the upcoming biography. Despite Musk's attempts to reconnect, Jenna remained distant, causing Musk emotional distress.
Musk's criticism towards transgender issues over the years is no secret. In 2020, he took to social media criticizing the use of pronouns, and in recent times, his disdain extended to the discussions surrounding gender-affirming surgery for minors. He notably expressed his support for criminalizing irreversible gender transition procedures for minors in June.
Additionally, the article mentioned a conversation between Musk and his ex-partner Grimes regarding his stance on transgender issues, with Grimes trying to understand the root of Musk's discomfort. She believed his concerns were more aligned towards potential fertility issues related to transitioning rather than an outright objection to transgender individuals.
The uneasy dynamics between Musk and Jenna, who is the eldest of Musk's nine known living children, reveal a complex narrative of family and ideological clashes against the backdrop of Musk's public life. As the publication reached out for comments, there was no response from Musk, Jenna's mother Justine Wilson, or other members of the Musk family prior to publication.