Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal, owner of Tesla Motors and supposedly a basis for the superhero of the Iron Man movies, is broke and living off loans from friends.

In divorce court filings, Musk says that "about four months ago, I ran out of cash," the New York Times is reporting. As part of the divorce -- he hooked up with actress Talulah Riley -- fantasy novelist Justine Musk wants a piece of Tesla, stock in rocket company SpaceX, the house, alimony, child support and $6 million.

Musk, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, sunk his last $35 million into the electric car company Telsa Motors which is set to hold an initial public offering of stock in two weeks -- expected to bring in about $1.4 billion. Musk isn't the first of the venture capital elite to fall on hard times when their assets outweigh their cash -- Oracle founder Larry Ellison partly lives off loans with most of his wealth in Oracle stock.

In the Great Recession, times are tough all over. Just ask Britain's Queen Elizabeth, whose subjects put a 10-year freeze on her pay -- read about that on WalletPop.