Maye Musk has matched her entrepreneur son Elon as a talking point by choosing to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit edition. At the age of 74, she said it made her feel like a teenager again.
Captured in a one-piece suit by Colombian designer Maygel Coronel on the beach in Belize, it makes her the oldest model to ever be featured.
The New York Post reports the pages inside reveal Musk in all her glory showing “even more skin wearing a high-waisted bikini.”
“It feels great,” Musk told the Post about seeing her cover photos for the first time.
“I’ve been modeling for 50 years, and I wasn’t considered a ‘swimsuit model,’ but now Sports Illustrated has let me know that they have a wide diversity of swimsuit models. I think it’s wonderful,” the Canadian-South African model and dietician said.
Television personality Kim Kardashian, singer Ciara and models Yumi Nu join Musk to appear on three other new covers of the magazine.
Musk is known for her modeling work with CoverGirl and her latest move comes in the footsteps of others who have recently appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
In July of last year, the publication also featured transgender model Leyna Bloom on the cover of its swimsuit edition.
For her part, Musk first began modeling at age 15 while living in South Africa, later coming in as a finalist for the 1969 Miss South Africa beauty competition.
However, her profile took off after she posed nude for Time magazine’s health issue in 2011.
Soon after, she became Covergirl’s oldest spokesmodel at age 69 and also appeared in Beyoncé’s “Haunted” music video at age 65.
Maye Musk visits the Empire State Building as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit surprises Maye Musk as newest cover model on May 11, 2022 in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust)
CEO, and chief engineer at SpaceX. Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2022, in New York. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty)
“I didn’t think age would be a problem because as a dietician and a scientist, age is not a problem,” Musk told Sports Illustrated.
“I’m just so happy that people are actually booking me for talks on ageism and how to feel good about yourself at any age. I’m also very proud that I can give a message to women in the world to aim for happiness, do things you like to do, mix with nice people, be kind to everyone because you never know and pursue whatever you’d wish to do.
“I really am living the best life ever, and I never expected it.”