'The utter epitome of privilege': Elon Musk's mum sparks debate over children and personal finances

Maye Musk, mother of tech mogul Elon Musk, has sparked a debate after discussing children and personal finances.

Maye recently appeared on Fox and Friends where Rachel Campos-Duffy asked about her response to a comedian on X/Twitter who commented on the declining birth rate.

In her response at the time, Maye called having children "the greatest gift in your life," adding that when Elon was born, they lived in a "small two bedroom apartment overlooking a garage".

She continued: "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."

Maye went on to highlight the changes she made, by not going out for dinner or to the cinema.

"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," she added. "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."

Maye signed off: "My career was on hold for a short while, but so worth it. Have children, add value to your life."

On Sunday (15 December), Maye reiterated her point to host Campos-Duffy, saying: "You don’t have to go to the movies, you don’t have to go out for dinner, just spend time with the most wonderful gifts you can ever have, is the children."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

However, the clip soon ignited a heated debate on Elon's platform X, with Maye's comment leaving a bad taste in some user's mouths.

"Wow. The utter epitome of privilege," one hit back, while another chimed in: "That is about as out of a touch statement as a person can make. That is coming from Elon's mom is unsurprising because warped thinking is a feature, not a bug in that family."

Another harshly wrote: "I'm sorry you want me to listen to parenting advice from Elon Musk's mother. Bahahahahahahahahahahahaha."

A fourth quipped: "She thinks going to the movies and dinner is what makes people struggle?"

One user highlighted that her advice may have been useful back in the day, writing: "This was good advice for the 60's and 70's. A dollar bill (or a silver dollar) could buy a lot. A dollar bill today is treated like a copper penny was back then. Reversing inflation is the answer. Our money is almost worthless."

Many more hailed it the "new iced coffee and Netflix" concept, in that if millennials didn't splurge on iced coffees and Netflix subscriptions, they'd be able to afford to buy a house.

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