- Kimbal Musk said he felt hopeless when his brother Elon got beaten up at school.
- He told The Times of London that Musk had upset those involved but didn't deserve the severe beating.
Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk felt hopeless when Elon got "severely" beaten up at school, he told The Times of London in an interview.
Kimbal Musk recounted his experience growing up with his older brother in South Africa, a place he described as "very violent" at the time.
"He had obviously upset them in some form, but nothing that would justify beating someone to death, which is what they were trying to do," Kimbal Musk told the outlet.
He added: "There was nothing I could do."
In a separate incident, Kimbal and Elon Musk were on a train, and a man in front of them got stabbed in the head and died "right there," he said, as everyone tried to exit the carriage.
Elon Musk has previously talked about his childhood experiences, telling author Ashlee Vance that those who beat him got his best friend to lure him out of hiding.
"For some reason they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That's what made growing up difficult. For a number of years there was no respite," he said, according to Vance's 2015 book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."
He also described being chased around by gangs at school, "and then I'd come home, and it would just be awful there as well."
Kimbal Musk told the Times that his first recollections of getting in trouble with Elon were when they were about four and five and were "caught" lighting a fire in the back of their house.
"We were probably going to burn something down," he told the outlet.
According to The Times, their mother, Maye Musk, a professional dietitian and model, was physically and emotionally abused by her husband, Errol Musk, who often scolded and verbally abused the two boys.
The two brothers went on to move from South Africa to Canada as teenagers, founded Zip2, and sold it for about $300 million in 1999.
They have since worked on many projects together, including SpaceX and Tesla, but have disagreed many times, sometimes leading to physical altercations.
While working together in Zip2's office in the 1990s, Kimbal Musk once "tore off a hunk of flesh" from Elon Musk's hand while the brothers wrestled on the floor, according to Walter Isaacson's 2023 biography of Elon Musk.
In May, in a letter made public in an SEC filing, a group of Tesla shareholders urged others to vote against the reelection of Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch to the Tesla Board, citing concerns they could not effectively oversee the CEO because of their personal ties.
Kimbal Musk told The Times that a couple of months ago he spent days disagreeing with his brother on Tesla's cost-cutting strategy and manufacturing, but this time without bloodshed.
"At least we don't physically fight these days," Kimbal Musk said.