Maye Musk Discusses the Journey to Self-Confidence and Embracing Personal Growth

The model is the oldest woman to appear on the cover of the SI Swimsuit Issue.

Maye Musk.John Parra/Getty Images

SI Swimsuit model Camille Kostek had a little fangirl moment with 2022 cover model Maye Musk during launch week.

“I keep talking about how lucky I feel to be among women like you in the issue, I don’t even know where to begin,” Kostek gushed to Musk. “You are such a living legend and everything that you stand for about owning who you are...age is just a number. It’s about how you feel. It’s how you live each day.”

Musk, who is the oldest cover model in SI Swimsuit history, nodded in agreement. “You will have your confidence knocked out of you so many times, and you’ve got to just not mix with those people,” Musk replied.  “You mix with people who like you for what you are, and that you learn over time because you think you can get away with it, but you’ll be miserable.”

The 74-year-old is a dietician and the author of A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success. Her memoir details her journey of raising three children—film producer Tosca Musk, restauranteur Kimbal Musk and billionaire businessman Elon Musk—as a single mother while also tending to her own career aspirations.

“You know, my book is in 100 countries and it’s mainly because I talked about being a single mother, having a good time, leaving an abusive marriage and then moving countries—and women don’t do that in the world,” Musk continued. “And so it‘s just giving them a lot of strength.”

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Musk had worked in the fashion industry for more than 50 years before her SI Swimsuit shoot in Belize last year.

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“My first reaction was, I could never dream up something like that because why would anyone have a 74-year-old on their cover, especially in a swimsuit,” Musk told People. “I do think it’s going to make women feel more comfortable in their 70s when they swim, as well as women in their 20s and 30s. When women go to the beach, we’re kind of shy about our bodies, but men will walk around, looking terrible, and they don’t care. I think we have to not care that much.”