As many younger siblings will tell you, emerging from the shadow of a successful older brother or sister can be daunting.
But when that shadow is cast by billionaire brainiac Elon Musk, the struggle is all the more real.
Tosca Musk, the 48-year-old little sis to Elon is an entrepreneur in her own right. Six years ago, she founded Passionflix, a Netflix-esque streaming service that produces feel-good romantic movies.
Her latest project is “Gabriel’s Redemption,” which recently premiered in London.
The official trailer for Gabriel’s Redemption PT1 is here ❤️ Watch it on Passionflix June 22nd. pic.twitter.com/1aPeRnK2lk
— Tosca Musk (@ToscaMusk) June 6, 2023
When your brother is worth between 177 and 184 billion dollars, people make assumptions.
“[E]veryone assumes my eldest brother pays for everything,” Tosca told Daily Mail reporter Lina Das, “but he does not.”
Even scouting a location for her company can be a challenge.
“The location was going to cost $5,000 [£4,000] a day,” she said, “but when they heard my name and assumed we were rich, they decided to charge us $25,000 [£20,000].”
“That’s not exactly fair, is it?” she asked.
Tosca has spoken publicly about the difficulties she’s encountered in raising funds for Passionflix, but she is reluctant to say whether Elon has helped her out, either financially or with business advice.
“Well, it’s a double-edged sword for me to say whether my brother has helped in any way,” she told Das. “If I say no, then people will say he does not support me at all, and if I say yes, they’ll think he paid for everything.”
“But I hope he watches the films,” she added. “They are definitely an education service for men in how to behave with women!”
As Elon’s sister, Tosca is constantly approached by people who want to use her to get closer to him.
“It happens all the time,” she said. “But I have a finely-tuned bulls**t-ometer so I don’t let it get that far and the answer is always no.”
But on the social media platform her brother now owns, Tosca openly shares her love for him, their mother, Maye, and for the middle Musk child, 50-year-old Kimbal.
“Happy Father’s Day @elonmusk & @kimbal,” she wrote over the weekend, quote-tweeting warm wishes from Maye. “You guys are the best dads!”
Happy Father’s Day @elonmusk & @kimbal You guys are the best dads! https://t.co/WPASLTvXwJ
— Tosca Musk (@ToscaMusk) June 18, 2023
A mother of twin 10-year-olds, herself, Tosca took an unconventional path to parenthood.
“I was 37 and had just ended a relationship with a nice person, but not somebody that you’d want to get married to,” she told Das. “I wanted to have children but I didn’t actually want to be in a relationship with anybody to have these children with and so I decided to have them on my own with in vitro and an anonymous sperm donor.”
The joyful result was daughter, Isabeau, and son, Grayson.
Happy Mother’s Day @ToscaMusk and all mothers pic.twitter.com/W8lD3KfIzs
— Maye Musk (@mayemusk) May 8, 2022
A “matchmaker” helped her go through the potential sperm donors.
“They suggest you find somebody that looks like you, so I brought in pictures of me at a young age and they basically matched [the donor’s looks] to mine, so that my children ultimately look exactly like me,” she said.
In reading the would-be donors’ letters about themselves, Tosca went with one who showed “sporty” characteristics to complement the scientific, creative Musk genes.
Without question, the Musk clan is tight, and Isabeau and Grayson are close to their many cousins. Kimbal has three kids, and Elon, famously, has nine living children (one of his children with Canadian author Justine Wilson tragically died at 10 weeks).
Tosca says her children are prepared for the attention carrying the Musk name will inevitably bring.
“Since they were born, they’ve seen my mother on billboards and family members on the covers of magazines, so there’s no world in which they’ll grow up that will not have our name or face everywhere they look,” she said. “They’ve been prepared for that reality from the very beginning.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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