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On paper Elon Musk has it all.

A 6ft 2in multi-billionaire with a environmental conscience; he has his own car brand in Tesla, his own space ships, five houses and a string of celebrity friends. But he longs for a girlfriend to share it all with.

He's been married three times - twice to same woman - and has dated actresses Amber Heard and was rumoured to have dated Cameron Diaz.

But none of the relationships have lasted.

The 46-year-old, who has a massive mansion in Bel Air, Los Angeles, and owns the Lotus Esprit submarine car used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, wears his heart on his sleeve too.

(Image: REUTERS)

"If I'm not in love, if I'm not with a long-term companion, I cannot be happy," he told Rolling Stone .

"I will never be happy without having someone. Going to sleep alone kills me. It's not like I don't know what that feels like: Being in a big empty house, and the footsteps echoing through the hallway, no one there - and no one on the pillow next to you. F--. How do you make yourself happy in a situation like that?."

In fact his single status so upsets him it has threatened to interfere with his work.

When the journalist Neil Strauss interviewed Musk last year , the first question he asked was how it felt to launch the Tesla Model 3 .

"I just broke up with my girlfriend. I was really in love and it hurt bad," Musk said, talking about the actress Amber Heard who was formerly married to Johnny Depp.

(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Well, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think. I've been in severe emotional pain.

"It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. I had to psych myself up: drink a couple of Red Bulls, then tell myself, 'I have all these people depending on me. All right, do it!'"

He even asked his interviewer to suggest possible girlfriends because, he said, "It's so hard for me to even meet people. I'm looking for a long-term relationship. I'm not looking for a one-night stand.

"I'm looking for a serious companion or soulmate. When I was a child there's one thing I said 'I never want to be alone.' "

He unusual upbringing has been well reported, born in South Africa to a model mother and engineer father he was pretty much left to own devices.

(Image: Internet Unknown) (Image: Tesla)

He has said he read the entire 32,000 page Encyclopedia Britannica cover to cover by the time he was 12 and spent the rest of his time doing science experiments.

Musk met his first wife, author Justine Wilson, at Queen's University in Ontario. Writing in Marie Claire, Justine - who uses Musk's last name - told how he invited her out for ice cream.

(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

(Image: elonmusk/Instagram)

He fathered six children — a son, who died at ten weeks in 2002, twins and triplets.

He met his second wife, British St Trinian's actress Talulah Riley, in 2008, married her in 2010, divorced her two years later, remarried her the next year, then filed for divorce again, then withdrew the papers, then refiled for divorce and finally followed through with it in 2016.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

In 2013 he was linked to Charlie's Angels actress Cameron Diaz after she bought a Tesla, but he denied they were in a relationship.

Admittedly it could be his work ethic behind his relationship problems - he is said to work 100 hours a week surviving on six hours a night.