Elon Musk had no friends in school, was 'lonely and sad', new book claims

The world's richest person Elon Musk was "lonely and sad" as a child because he struggled to make friends in school, his new biography by journalist Walter Isaacson claimed. This also meant he had a hard time understanding social cues and had to read books to learn about them.

Isaacson wrote that Elon Musk's mother Maye Musk's decision to put him in nursery at three years old because he was "intellectually curious" was a mistake. The principal had warned her that he would experience social challenges because he was younger than anyone else in the class, Business Insider reported.

"It was a mistake," Isaacson wrote in the book. "Elon had no friends, and by the time he was in second grade he was tuning out."

Maye Musk told Isaacson that Elon Musk "became so lonely and sad," when he started going to school. "Kimbal and Tosca (Elon Musk's siblings) would make friends on the first day and bring them home, but Elon never brought friends home. He wanted to have friends, but just didn't know how," she said.