Trouble in Paradise 198
when they came up with his name. Leroy was a good escape
artist because he had no fear. Although they tried to seal
the walls of their garden, the dog escaped by jumping off
the steep cliffs that surrounded their house. Hours could
pass before he showed up at their front door as if nothing
happened. “The dog has the biggest ego I’ve ever met in any
dog,” a dog trainer said. “You’re lucky he’s not any bigger
than he is, or you’d have a real problem.”163,164,166,168,174
As Elon sold more and more of his companies, the
couple moved to larger and larger houses – or rather
mansions. To get a feeling of the neighborhood they lived
in, there’s a story about when a rich neighbor came over to
their house. There were three parked cars on the driveway
that night: a Ferrari, a Mercedes sedan, and a Cadillac
Esplanade. “Wow. Look at that car. What a beauty. Can
I get in it?” the rich neighbor asked. Everyone thought he
would go to the Ferrari, but he went over to the Mercedes.
He opened the back door and sat down in the seat. “Wow.
This is great. What a beautiful car,” he said. Everyone
realized the rich neighbor didn’t have a driver’s license. He
had been chauffeured around his entire life, so why would
he need to test the driver’s seat?^173
The couple visited black-tie fundraisers and got the best
tables in the best Hollywood nightclubs. Villa, owned by
the actors Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio, was
so exclusive almost no one in Los Angeles knew of its
existence. Outside of the club, there was a crowd of gold
diggers trying to get in and paparazzi photographers trying
to get the latest gossip pictures. But Elon and Justine could