Say what you will about Elon Musk, but right now he’s everywhere—cheering on Starship’s tenth launch attempt, floating existential AI theories, and dodging headlines over that $29 billion Tesla payout. Meanwhile, on social media, there’s an entirely different Elon trending: a smiling teen in South Africa, standing between his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca.
On Friday, August 22, a throwback of the trio popped up on Reddit and quickly started making the rounds. Musk, now 54, was 17 in the shot, smiling alongside his siblings back in 1989.
It’s not the first time the photo has appeared. Last year, their mom Maye Musk included the same shot in a #ThrowbackThursday photo dump on Instagram. While the picture stirred plenty of buzz then, this time was no different.
"He looks like he blew out their birthday candles every goddamn year and thought he was HILARIOUS," one person joked.
"Aww he looks so happy there, let’s send him back," another quipped.
"It's so strange seeing a picture of a cute innocent child now knowing what they became as an adult," chimed in a third.
Though reactions were mixed on Elon, his brother didn’t go unnoticed.
"Kimbal’s actually quite a handsome lad," someone pointed out.
"His brother clearly got all the looks in the fam," said one user.
"I dare say his brother would’ve been my type back when I was a teen," another person admitted.
For the Musks, the late ’80s marked a major turning point. That same year, Elon left South Africa for Canada, Tosca—just 15 at the time—helped sell their mother’s house to finance the move, and Kimbal soon followed. Maye has since called it “the year our lives changed,” a shift that set the siblings on very different paths.
Today, those paths are well known. Elon is at the helm of Tesla and SpaceX and, more recently, launched xAI in 2023 with the goal of building artificial intelligence “to understand the true nature of the universe.” Kimbal carved out a completely different space as a restaurateur and food activist. He co-founded The Kitchen Restaurant Group and the nonprofit Big Green, which builds school gardens across the U.S., and he’s also a longtime member of Tesla’s board.
Tosca took the creative route. She co-founded and runs Passionflix, a streaming service dedicated entirely to romance films and series, and has been outspoken about spotlighting female-driven stories. She’s also never shied away from voicing her support for her famous sibling. As she told the Sunday Times in 2022, “I’m incredibly proud of my older brother. He is a phenomenon.”