By REBECCA HARDY

Published: 19:00 EST, 22 November 2024 | Updated: 01:47 EST, 23 November 2024

You’d be hard pushed to describe Elon Musk or his straight-talking South African father Errol as particularly emotional men.

Yet earlier this year, father and son, who spectacularly fell out when Elon was ‘a super-Leftie liberal’ (his 78-year-old dad’s words), shared a hug for the first time in many years.

The embrace, which happened in March at a party to mark the first successful test flight of Elon’s rocket Starship, took place in front of several hundred of the tech billionaire’s staff at his space exploration company SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas.

‘There were about 300 people and everyone was having a good time because the launch was quite a big success,’ says Errol.

‘Then, Elon stops the event. He’s a little bit taller than me now, but he puts his arm around me and says, ‘This is my dad, everyone. He taught me everything I know about engineering.’ He was pretty emotional.

‘I was quite overwhelmed myself. I said to the crowd, ‘No, no, Elon taught himself.’ I had to say that.’

He throws his head back and laughs. ‘My second wife, Heide, and our daughters were with us. They were in tears. We all were.’

Errol is, after all, the father Elon once condemned as ‘pure evil’.

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