Tesla chairman and CEO Elon Musk has a hard time sleeping at night.
In an explosive interview with The New York Times, he said that he has had an “excruciating” year, filled with missed Tesla production targets, federal investigations, lawsuits, and 120-hour workweeks.
“It is often a choice of no sleep or Ambien,” he told the New York Times. But that’s not news: Musk tweeted about his liking for Ambien and red wine a year ago:
A little red wine, vintage record, some Ambien … and magic!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2017
Other celebrities, such as Roseanne Barr, have blamed the sleep aid for their errant tweets. But psychologist Carl Hart told Vice, “It’s not gonna change your personality, so don’t expect it to.”
Nevertheless, some Tesla board members are worried that Musk’s Ambien use may be prompting his late-night tweeting sessions, the Times reports. That’s no small concern, since an Aug. 7 tweet by Musk about taking Tesla private raised red flags at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fortune asked Tesla for comment on the board’s reported concerns about Musk’s Ambien use and will update this story with any response.
Musk may soon be able to get a tad more shut-eye, if the Tesla board gets its way. It’s searching for a second-in-command at Tesla to relieve him of the some of the pressure, the Times reported, citing unnamed sources.
Musk denied knowledge of the search for a No. 2 and challenged his interviewers to name a better leader for Tesla: “Is there someone who can do the job better? They can have the reins right now.”
