Mom of Elon Musk wants people to have kids even if they can’t afford it: ‘Have children, add value to your life’

Maye Musk—model, dietician, and mother of billionaire Elon Musk—has lately been giving advice about parenting. Specifically, she been making the argument that people should be finding ways to save enough money to have kids, even if it’s a financial burden—and said it was something she could relate to.

“When I had my children, we were in a two-bedroom, small apartment overlooking a garage. And then, the next year, I had the second child, we had an apartment with a view, and then by the third child, we could get a two-bedroom house, and you just, you know, as you move on, you start doing better and better,” she said in an appearance on Fox & Friends over the weekend.

Then she offered this: “You don’t have to go to the movies, you don’t have to go out for dinner; you can just spend time with the most wonderful gifts you can ever have, which is the children.”

Her comment came in response to being asked by Rachel Campos-Duffy about “the birth rate, which your son talks a lot about, it’s declining,” as a follow-up to a comment Maye posted on her son’s X.

Maye’s X comment was in response to a post by Vittorio, whose account name is Interintellectus, railing against people who do not want to have kids.

“The ‘kids are too expensive’ argument is a convenient cope,” he wrote. “People claiming they can’t afford children are usually rationalizing deeper issues: they just don’t want them. Having children is as expensive as you choose to make it, and for all of human history, people with far fewer resources managed to raise families. The problem isn’t financial; it’s cultural. We live in a society that has systematically psyopped and brainwashed people into believing children are a burden, not a blessing. Women are told that motherhood is a sacrifice and a hindrance to their career, as if chasing corporate promotions or vanity metrics is more meaningful than creating life.”

To that, Elon himself commented, “People have been brainwashed into civilizational suicide,” which then prompted his mother’s response.

“Having children is the greatest gift in your life,” she wrote. “When Elon was born, we were in a small two bedroom apartment overlooking a garage. When Kimbal was born, we moved to a two bedroom apartment with a view. When Tosca was born, we moved to a two bedroom house. All in the same area. We didn’t go out for dinner nor to the movies. As my former-husband was promoted at the engineering firm, we upgraded our lifestyle. He then opened his own engineering firm, and we could move to a beautiful home in a better area. Children give you your greatest joy in the world. I never felt like I was sacrificing anything. As soon as I could afford some help in the house, I opened my dietetics practice in my home. My career was on hold for a short while, but so worth it. Have children, add value to your life.”

While her response prompted a slew of supportive comments—including from Caitlyn Jenner, who wrote, “100% agreed”—people were critical in response to a video post of her Fox & Friends appearance on the social app Bluesky.

“Easy to say when you sit on billions,” one person commented. Another wrote, “You can easily tell that the only things she considers when it comes to kids are movies & going out to dinner. Not their medical, clothes, intuition, or anything else. The rich elite are parasites on this world & society as a whole.” One chided, “Hey Siri, how many movie tickets would I need to buy to spend as much money as the hospital bill for the birth of one (1) child?”

And several shared the following: “Let them eat cake!”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com