Elon Musk’s biographer has commented on his ‘madness’ — here’s what he said:

Elon Musk biographer Seth Abramson has said what we’ve all been thinking: Elon Musk is suffering a mental health crisis, and it’s getting worse. And with Musk so close to Donald Trump, Abramson adds, the tech mogul’s mental health has become a national emergency.

Abramson, a New York Times bestselling author, made these accusations in an X post. “I legitimately believe Elon Musk may be going mad,” Abramson wrote. “I’m a Musk biographer who has been tracking his online behavior for the last two years—and given that he’s admitted to all of mental illness, heavy drug use, and crippling stress, it is now reasonable to fear he is deeply unwell.”

In comments, Abramson adds the controversial CEO’s mental health is a matter of public concern because of Musk’s growing influence around the world and close ties to the incoming Trump administration. “[Musk’s] madness and increasing incitement of violence endanger us all,” Abramson said, and called on President Biden, in his remaining time in office, to end all government contracts with Musk’s companies.

Abramson concludes, “If no action is taken—and I suspect no action will be taken—what this man in his burgeoning madness does to America as POTUS in the coming years will be on the heads of not just him and those who support or enable him but those who ignored urgent, informed warnings like this one.”

Since Trump won, Musk, who factored heavily in Trump’s campaign and spent heavily to help secure his reelection, has been tapped along with Vivek Ramaswamy to head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He has also been rumored to be the “real” president because of his undue influence on Trump’s policies. (Trump has denied those accusations.)

Meanwhile, Abramson’s comments are similar to other social media posts like the following,

Musk has mentioned his mental health struggles in the past

Last spring, Don Lemon posted an Elon Musk interview in which the Tesla CEO and X founder admitted he took ketamine for depression and anxiety and said he often works 16-hour days. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), ketamine is sometimes “abused for the dissociative sensations and hallucinogenic effects.” Some studies, however, have shown ketamine could help treatment-resistant depression.

Musk told Lemon he only takes a small amount of ketamine once a week. “If there is a chemical state in your brain that you can’t just ‘think yourself’ out of, then ketamine is helpful for getting out of that depressive mindstate,” Musk said, describing his occasional “negative chemical mindstate” like a “brainstorm.” Like Abramson, Musk biographer Walter Isaacson, also suggested Musk might live with PTSD because of his turbulent childhood in South Africa.

Isaacson also wrote that Musk experienced night terrors during the 2008 financial crisis and that he would sometimes vomit due to stress. Musk’s ex-partner and the mother of three of his children, Grimes, told Isaacson, “Every couple hours I would wake up, and he was just still sitting there, in the thinking man statue pose, just completely silent on the edge of the bed,” according to Business Insider.

Isaacson and Abramson are not mental health professionals, and it’s unclear if Musk has ever been diagnosed with a mental health condition beyond the CEO’s mention of depression treatment. An unqualified observer such as Isaacson and Abramson to speculate on someone’s mental health is controversial.

Still, in Abramson’s comments, someone said, “Paranoia. Violent mood swings. Insomnia. Drug pharmacopeia. Megalomania. Increasingly wild promises of thousands of rockets to mars, and New York to London in 58 minutes via undersea tunnels. And then there’s his one provable design feat: the cybertruck. Yeah, he’s nuts.”