There's this wild family story about Elon Musk that I keep coming back to, and it's honestly one of the most contradictory things you'll read about him.

So his father Errol tells these stories about the family having so much money back in the day that they literally couldn't close their safe. Like, they'd have to hold the cash in place while slamming the door shut, and money would still be sticking out the sides. According to Errol, teenage Elon and his brother Kimbal would casually walk around selling emeralds - supposedly from a mine Errol owned in Zambia. The story goes that young Elon once sold two emeralds at Tiffany & Co. for $2,000, only to spot one of them marked up to $24,000 in a ring months later.

But here's where it gets interesting. Elon tells a completely different story.

Back in 2022, Elon basically called out the whole emerald mine narrative on Twitter. He said there's "no objective evidence whatsoever" that the mine ever existed. He claimed his father told him about owning a share in a Zambian mine, but nobody has ever actually seen it or found records of it. According to Elon, his childhood wasn't this overflowing money situation - it was middle to upper-middle class, and honestly, not particularly happy despite the privilege.

Even wilder: Elon said his father's business eventually struggled, and for the past couple of decades, both he and Kimbal have been financially supporting their dad. There's apparently even conditions attached to the support - Errol has to stay out of trouble.

So you've got this fascinating contradiction. The father remembering an era of extreme wealth and legendary emerald deals, while his sons - particularly Elon - are saying none of that happened, and they're actually the ones supporting the family now. Makes you wonder what the real story is.

Today Elon's obviously one of the richest people on the planet with Tesla and SpaceX, while Errol depends on his sons. Whether the emerald mine was real or not, the family dynamics here are genuinely strange.