He has known Jana when she was four but allegedly does not consider her his stepdaughter because she was raised away from the family for long periods

The father of Elon Musk, the technology billionaire, says it was “God’s plan” for him to have a baby with his own stepdaughter.

Errol Musk, 72, described the 10-month-old baby boy he had with Jana Bezuidenhout, 30, as “exquisite”.

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He married Miss Bezuidenhout’s mother Heide when Jana was four but told The Sunday Times he did not consider her as his stepdaughter because she had been raised away from the family for long periods.

Mr Musk had two children with Heide Bezuidenhout before they divorced after 18 years of marriage.

He said Jana contacted him last year after splitting up with a boyfriend. “We were lonely, lost people,” Mr Musk said from his home in South Africa. “One thing led to another — you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan.”

Photo by Jana Bezuidenhout/Facebook

Two months later, Miss Bezuidenhout told him she was pregnant. After assuming the father was her ex-boyfriend, Mr Musk demanded a paternity test only to discover it was his baby.

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“Jana is a delightful girl and a wonderful mother. She said I had changed her life,” he added.

His story may explain months of hostility between father and son, who have reportedly not spoken in more than a year. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Elon Musk – who is thought to be worth around $20 billion through his SpaceX and Tesla companies and has called for the colonisation of Mars to prevent the human race being wiped out – described his father as a “terrible human being”, but stopped short of giving specific examples.

“You have no idea about how bad [he is],” he said. “Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.”

Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Mr Musk senior, who is a millionaire and made his fortune through engineering, disputed that characterisation, but has admitted shooting dead three intruders in his home in South Africa.

He was charged with manslaughter but said he was acting in self-defence and was acquitted.