Elon Musk's dad, 77, says he'd have more kids — but only if he could find a woman under 35
- Errol Musk said he'd be open to having more children if he could find a woman under the age of 35.
- The 77-year-old has seven known children, including two he had with his former stepdaughter.
Errol Musk, 77, isn't ruling out having more children just yet.
Much like his son Elon Musk — who has 10 known living children — Errol Musk told Insider he believes people need to have more children and said he'd consider having more kids.
"Men are all the same," Errol Musk told Insider. "Any man — that I know of anyway — very happily, if he finds the right girl, would have another child. It doesn't matter if he's 90, 20, 50 — doesn't matter what age. I mean, that's what we're built for — that's what we're made for."
To date, Errol Musk has seven known biological children, including three children he had with Elon Musk's mother, Maye Musk, two kids he had with his ex-wife Heide Bezuidenhout, and another two children he had with his former stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, when she was in her 30s. Errol Musk announced he'd fathered his most recent child with Jana Bezuidenhout in 2022.
Errol Musk has faced some scrutiny for the relationship with Jana. In a biography on Elon Musk, author Walter Isaacson wrote that the billionaire Tesla CEO was worried his father was "uncomfortably attentive" to the stepdaughter when she was 15 years old.
Errol has said there was nothing inappropriate, saying he was equally attentive to all of his children and pointing out that he'd fathered children with Jana when she was in her 30s and when he was no longer married to her mother. Jana Bezuidenhout did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Errol Musk told Insider he lives in close proximity to Jana and their children and sees them about every other day, but he didn't specify whether he plans to have more children with Jana, who is now in her mid-30s.
"I'm 77, but I feel fine," he said. "I have an athlete's physique. So if a woman came along who was able to have children, she'd have to be under 35 because a woman's cutoff for having children is 35, believe it or not." Errol Musk contended.
"But if she's under 35 and I loved her and everything, I wouldn't think think twice about having another child, of course," he said.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women are most fertile between their late teens and late 20s. Some women of course have children well into their 40s. A 2023 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that "delayed childbearing — having a first child at age 35 or over — increased ninefold between 1972 and 2012" and the number of women giving birth in their 40s has continued to increase since 1985 — a statistic that could be tied to the increasing costs of having children.
Errol Musk said he understands people's concerns about the affordability of having children — and he said he'd be concerned himself about who would take care of any children after he died.
"At my age you have to think, 'Well, how will they be looked after if you pass away?'" Errol said. "Unlike with Elon, when I was 24, I have to think 'Well, do I have some investments I can put away if I did have another child that they would be able to go on?' It wouldn't be just based on — like with Elon, when I was 24 — I just figured I've got my whole life to make make enough to look after him."
Last year, Errol Musk told Insider he thinks Elon Musk should have more children.
Similarly, Elon Musk has commented on declining birth rates. In 2022, he said: "Population collapse is the biggest threat to civilization."
Though the two men appear to share similar perspectives on birth rates, they have had a rocky relationship over the years.
In his recent biography on Elon Musk, Isaacson wrote that Elon has cut off communication with his father — an assertion that Errol, who recently shared other thoughts about the biography in an interview with Insider, denies.