Musk’s ‘evil’ father has a baby with stepdaughter

UNITED STATES: The father of the technology billionaire Elon Musk has described the child he has fathered with his stepdaughter as ‘‘God’s plan’’.

Speaking to The Sunday Times from his home in South Africa yesterday, Errol Musk, 72, said the 10-month old baby, Elliot Rush, whose mother is Jana Bezuidenhout, is an ‘‘exquisite child’’.

He said he did not consider Jana, 30, his stepdaughter as he claimed she was raised away from the family for long periods of time.

Errol married her mother, Heide, when Jana was 4. The couple had two children together, but he maintained they separated after two years before reuniting. They divorced after 18 years.

Errol said Jana had contacted him last year and he did ‘‘everything in his power’’ to help her after she had split from her boyfriend. ‘‘We were lonely, lost people,’’ Errol said. ‘‘One thing led to another - you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan.’’

Jana got in touch two months later to say she was pregnant. Errol assumed the ex-boyfriend was the father so insisted on a DNA test, which proved his paternity.

‘‘Jana is a delightful girl and a wonderful mother. She said I had changed her life,’’ he said.

Errol helps support his stepdaughter and his baby son and sees them regularly, but says he does not live with them.

While he is clearly delighted - ‘‘If I drop dead tomorrow, I have left something behind’’ - his family, apparently, do not share his feelings. His son, Elon, worth about US28 billion (NZ$38b), once described his father as ‘‘evil’’ and ‘‘a terrible human being’’.

The coolness among members of the Musk family has been wellknown for some time, but it was never clear what was at the heart of the row. The father and son are said not to have spoken for more than 18 months. Errol’s secret is now out - and many family members are horrified.

‘‘Errol got Jana pregnant. He is the father of her baby boy, but he was a father to her,’’ a relation told Mail Online. ‘‘The whole family was outraged when we found out. This is the reason why Elon is so angry with Errol. He is the only father she has ever known. And now he is the father of her child as well.’’

Errol disputed this and said he did not consider children from his four previous wives as stepchildren. ‘‘Of course I love him [the baby] dearly, even though it wasn’t planned. - Sunday Times