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"Elon Was Under Incredible Stress, He Had Night Terrors" According to Ex-Wife Talulah Riley As He Worked to Save Tesla

Elon Musk was under an incredible amount of stress, with night terrors and difficult sleep and screams, according to his ex-wife, Talulah Riley, when trying to save both Tesla and SpaceX.
"Elon Was Under Incredible Stress, He Had Night Terrors" According to Ex-Wife Talulah Riley As He Worked to Save Tesla

Elon Musk Was Under Incredible Stress

Back in the early days of Tesla, Elon Musk had to work incredibly hard to save the company and SpaceX. He spent nearly all his time working and whatever time was left, was dedicated to the necessities, such as sleep.

He was married to Talulah Riley at the time, and she describes what it was like. Keep in mind, that was around the middle of 2008 and Talulah describes the experience like so:

There was something called the Tesla Death Watch at the time, which was an internet site kind of counting down the days so when Tesla was going to disappear.

He'd have night terrors in the middle of the night and be fast asleep and then suddenly he would be screaming in his sleep and stiff trying to climb up like in his sleep trying to escape something.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to go through that and the Model 3 ramp where all hands on deck were required. Elon Musk truly had to believe in Tesla in order to give everything he had to it.

Talulah went on to explain more about the situation.

All available resources had to be plowed into the projects, into the companies. You know he gave me an out, he said this, this is gonna be the hard path, and you don't have to stay for it

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The Resolve Of Elon Musk

In Elon Musk's own words, when speaking about that time, he said:

Tesla and kids that's uh - this is really not enough time of the day, so not enough time to sleep.

Talulah describes the experience further, saying:

And it was really awful, he plowed his money into Tesla and SpaceX. He was under incredible stress. I was worried he was going to have a heart attack. I just kept thinking, God, I've just hot to keep this guy alive.

And Elon further went on to say:

You know, the honest answer is, I'm not looking forward to party tonight. All night long, I'll be selling cars for 5 hours, after selling cars for 5 hours before that. It won't be fun for me.

It takes a tremendous amount of resolve and tenacity to do that, and I like what Talulah said about it all. She said she just needed to keep him alive.

From what I can tell, the two did divorce eventually, but maintain a very amicable relationship raising their kids as parent partners.

Elon Musk directly responded to this post, saying, "That was a tough time."

Tesla has gone through periods of difficulty, and I would say one of those periods is even right now. Of course, this period is nothing like the one's in the past where Tesla had to raise capital and was nearly bankrupt, however, Tesla's tough time now is:

Most of the existing models are reaching their peak in sales. Tesla's FSD has been promised for a while, but still isn't at Level 4 autonomy, and there continues to be FUD about EVs, maintenance, competition, and that Elon is a risk to Tesla.

I don't believe any of this, but those early days of Tesla prepared Elon Musk for what is probably a trivial time for Tesla right now.

In Other Tesla News: Endless Stream of Tesla's Continuously Going Through Boring Tunnel Loop at Las Vegas

How did Elon Musk make it through the early days of Tesla when things were so difficult? Will Tesla ever face a difficult time like this again?

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Hi! I'm Jeremy Noel Johnson, and I am a Tesla investor and supporter and own a 2022 Model 3 RWD EV and I don't have range anxiety :). I enjoy bringing you breaking Tesla news as well as anything about Tesla or other EV companies I can find, like Aptera. Other interests of mine are AI, Tesla Energy and the Tesla Bot! You can follow me on X.COM or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow my Tesla and EV news coverage.

Image Credit & Article Reference: Stephen Musk (Fan) via Elon Musk

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