Elon Musk's Ex-Wife Jumped Into a Random Thread To Answer What It Takes To Be a Billionaire — Her Message: The World Doesn't Care What You Want

Ten years ago—long before Elon Musk became a household name or the richest person on the planet—his ex-wife, Justine Musk, logged onto Quora and dropped a brutally honest response that still hits like a gut punch for wannabe billionaires.

Someone had asked: "Will I become a billionaire if I'm determined and willing to do the work?" And who better to answer than the woman who watched Musk go from startup founder to supernova? Justine—author, mother of five of his children, and the person who knew him before the Teslas, rockets, and Twitter takeovers—jumped in with a swift and unapologetic "No."

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That might sound cold, but she wasn't just shooting down dreams. She was offering a reality check from someone who witnessed the grind up close.

"Determination and hard work are necessary, yes, but they are the minimum requirements," she wrote. And then came this gem of a line:

"You haven't been racing naked through shark-infested waters yet."

According to Justine, it's not about wanting money. It's about becoming so irreplaceable, so uniquely valuable, that the world throws money at you because it needs what you've got. And even then, luck still plays a part.

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She advised mastering two completely different fields—like engineering and business—then fusing them into something new. Why? So your skills can "have idea s*x and make idea babies," she said. Not exactly Wall Street lingo, but it gets the point across.

Her advice racked up more than a million views and over 23,000 upvotes. She later edited the post to say she was "blown away and appreciative," but has since gone quiet on Quora. Her page still links to a now-defunct personal blog, and she hasn't posted in years.

Justine met Elon when they were undergrads at Queen's University in Canada—she was 18, he was 19. The relationship was bumpy from the start. They married, had six kids (one passed away), and eventually divorced after eight years. In a 2010 Marie Claire essay, she famously recalled Elon telling her on their wedding day:

"I am the alpha in this relationship."

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Justine's now a published fantasy author, best known for "BloodAngel," "Lord of Bones", and "Uninvited." She's also answered deeper questions online—like one about patriarchy—arguing that the system doesn't just hurt women, it damages men too. She pushed back on the pop-culture obsession with "alpha males," calling it "largely bullsh*t."

So, back to that original question: Can you become a billionaire if you're determined and willing to do the work? According to the woman who stood beside Elon as he scaled the mountain—only if you're willing to swim with sharks, reinvent yourself, master multiple disciplines, and create something the world didn't know it needed.

Oh—and yeah, you'll need some luck, too.

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