• Tesla chief Elon Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin meet Pope Francis in July at the Vatican. AFP
    Tesla chief Elon Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin meet Pope Francis in July at the Vatican. AFP
  • Mr Musk speaks by video in June to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Bloomberg
    Mr Musk speaks by video in June to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Bloomberg
  • Mr Musk answers questions at the Qatar Economic Forum. Bloomberg
    Mr Musk answers questions at the Qatar Economic Forum. Bloomberg
  • Mr Musk arrives at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May. Reuters
    Mr Musk arrives at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May. Reuters
  • Mr Musk and his mother Maye Musk arrive at the Met Gala in May. AFP
    Mr Musk and his mother Maye Musk arrive at the Met Gala in May. AFP
  • The Musks pose and laugh on the Met Gala red carpet. EPA
    The Musks pose and laugh on the Met Gala red carpet. EPA
  • Mr Musk waves at the Met Gala. Reuters
    Mr Musk waves at the Met Gala. Reuters
  • Mr Musk joins in online at the 'Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit in May. Financial Times
    Mr Musk joins in online at the 'Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit in May. Financial Times
  • Mr Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, in March. Reuters
    Mr Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, in March. Reuters
  • FILE - Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Musk has used Twitter to announce he had met with Pope Francis. Musk used the @Pontifex handle in tweeting that he was “honored” to meet with Francis on Friday, July 1, 2022. (Patrick Pleul / Pool via AP, File)
    FILE - Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Musk has used Twitter to announce he had met with Pope Francis. Musk used the @Pontifex handle in tweeting that he was “honored” to meet with Francis on Friday, July 1, 2022. (Patrick Pleul / Pool via AP, File)
  • Mr Musk speaks at SpaceX's Starbase centre in South Texas in February. AFP
    Mr Musk speaks at SpaceX's Starbase centre in South Texas in February. AFP
  • The entrepreneur shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Porto Feliz, Brazil, in May. AP
    The entrepreneur shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Porto Feliz, Brazil, in May. AP
  • Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Musk greet each other in Sao Paulo. Reuters
    Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Musk greet each other in Sao Paulo. Reuters
  • Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets Mr Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in May. Reuters
    Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets Mr Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in May. Reuters
  • Mr Musk shows Mr Widodo his mobile phone during a tour of the SpaceX launch site in Texas. Reuters
    Mr Musk shows Mr Widodo his mobile phone during a tour of the SpaceX launch site in Texas. Reuters

Elon Musk says he may take a break from the public eye


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Elon Musk tweeted on Monday that he might try to stay out of the public eye for a while.

"The amount of attention on me has gone supernova, which super sucks," he tweeted with a sad emoticon. "Unfortunately, even trivial articles about me generate a lot of clicks."

"Will try my best to be heads down focused on doing useful things for civilization."

Mr Musk is founder of SpaceX and Starlink, and a co-founder at Tesla. This month he tried to back out of an acquisition of Twitter.

With his mention of "trivial articles," Mr Musk may be referring to online conversation around photos of him shirtless on holiday and other articles with allegations about his dating life.

He has not made many public appearances lately, but he did meet Pope Francis with four of his children during a trip to Italy.

His tweet sharing a photo from the meeting was posted after an absence from Twitter, where he has more than 100 million followers.

Updated: July 26, 2022, 12:07 AM