Despite being the mother of the world’s wealthiest individual, Maye Musk remains remarkably unpretentious regarding her travel accommodations. During recent public appearances, the model and author revealed that she frequently opts for a modest bed in a garage rather than a luxury hotel when visiting her son, Elon Musk, at the SpaceX headquarters in Texas. This minimalist approach to living appears to be a family trait, echoing the Tesla CEO’s long-standing habit of prioritizing proximity to his work over personal comfort.
What happened
In a recent interview with Fox Business, Maye Musk shared insights into her visits to the SpaceX facilities in Brownsville, Texas. She explained that she chooses to sleep in a small room within the site’s garage to avoid the lengthy commute to the nearest high-end hotel. For Maye, the convenience of being on-site outweighs the 45-minute drive to a traditional suite.
This preference for functional living is not a new development for the Musk family. Maye recounted her own history of resilience, noting that she lived in a garage when she first moved from South Africa to Canada, and later slept on couches or floors while her children were navigating their university years. Today, Elon Musk continues this trend; he is currently reportedly residing in an Airstream trailer in Memphis to oversee the expansion of xAI’s “Colossus” supercomputer center.
Context
The “sleep-at-the-office” philosophy has become a hallmark of Elon Musk’s management style. During the critical production ramps at Tesla, Musk famously spent three years living primarily on the factory floor. He has described the discomfort of sleeping under his desk and waking up covered in industrial dust, yet he maintained that it was necessary for the morale of his team. By being physically present during shift changes, he intended to demonstrate that he was sharing the burden of the “production hell” his employees faced.
This behavior continued after his acquisition of X (formerly Twitter), where he reportedly slept on a couch in a library at the San Francisco headquarters. Even as his net worth fluctuates at record-breaking levels, Musk has frequently divested from traditional real estate, preferring to live in small, modular homes or temporary housing near his various corporate projects, including SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI.
Why it matters
The Musks’ rejection of traditional luxury highlights a specific brand of “hardcore” work culture that has defined Elon’s various ventures. While some critics view these sleeping arrangements as an unnecessary performance, Musk views them as a vital leadership tool. According to Musk, when employees see their CEO sleeping on the floor, it fosters a sense of shared mission and urgency that cannot be replicated through remote leadership.
Furthermore, this lifestyle reflects Musk’s tendency to ignore conventional wisdom in favor of his own intuition. The source news notes that Maye Musk once advised her son to focus on just one industry to avoid overextending himself. Similarly, financial experts like Ray Dalio once cautioned him against pouring his PayPal fortune into rocket science. By ignoring these suggestions and maintaining a relentless, 24/7 focus on his goals—often at the expense of his own physical comfort—Musk has built a suite of companies with multi-trillion-dollar valuations. For the Musk family, the garage isn’t just a place to park a car; it is a workspace and a home base for the next frontier of technology.