What’s the secret behind Maye Musk’s septuagenarian drive?
In her recent memoir A Woman Makes A Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, the jet-setting supermodel, dietitian and mother of Tesla founder Elon Musk, Maye Musk shared personal stories and lessons learned from a life of “living dangerously – carefully.” Those lessons being on career (the harder you work, the luckier you get), family (let the people you love go their own way), health (there is no magic pill), and adventure (make room for discovery, but always be ready for anything). You can’t control all that happens in life, but you can have the life you want at any age. All you have to do is make a plan.
Did Musk plan to be on the cover of this month’s Sports Illustrated Swimwear issue at age 74? “If I thought I could be a swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated, people would have locked me away as a crazy lady,” Musk explained in a video released by the magazine. “And now, here I am.”
Here she is indeed: photographed by Yu Tsai in Belize wearing a variety of swimsuits, including a Bahia Maria one-piece with 3D floral detailing, a two-toned ruffled Maygel Coronel suit, a cutout, one-shoulder silhouette with gold buttons by OYE, and a Zimmermann two-piece. “I’m very excited to let people know that women in their 70s are gorgeous,” Musk says proudly.
Musk is one of four faces to earn a spot on the magazine cover, alongside entrepreneur and influencer Kim Kardashian, singer Ciara, and musician and model Yumi Nu. In an accompanying editorial, her daughter Tosca describes her “unstoppable” mother. “In her years on this planet she’s earned two master’s degrees in nutrition science, won awards in the dietetics field, has been in countless fashion shows and editorials, and she’s even appeared in a Beyoncé video.”
Musk’s cover debut follows hot on the heels of her last red carpet moment – when she accompanied her son, Elon, to the Met Gala in New York. On that occasion she wore a burgundy velvet Dior haute couture gown, which she paired with a bold multi-strand Chopard pearl necklace and a top-handle Dior bag. Her grey hair styled in an edgy bouffant style.
“Many women are scared of going grey, but I wasn’t,” she admitted. “I was scared I’d never model again … But as you see, it opened up the whole field of modelling.” Musk likes to document her modelling adventures on Instagram with the hashtag #justgettingstarted. Some of her credits include being named a CoverGirl (at 69-years-old), appearing in a Swarovski ad with Karlie Kloss and walking in a runway show for Dolce & Gabbana.
How does she do it? “I’ve never feared ageing and my mom didn’t either. She died at 98 and stopped working at 96. My mom never worried about losing her confidence and I suppose that’s helped me a lot because I feel the same,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
As for keeping fit, she’s honest: “I’m not good at sports, but I do exercise because we have to move. Besides walking my dog four times a day, I go to the gym and do 30 minutes on a stationary bike while reading a book because I get bored, then ten minutes of weights and ten of stretches.”
As for her diet: “Of course I eat well, because it’s good for the skin. You eat well, you maintain your weight because that’s very anti-ageing. When you carry extra weight as you get older, you have more health issues and you don’t feel pretty and your energy is lower. The best diets are where you eat real food like low-fat dairy, lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, beans, lots of legumes, oils but not too much oils, because it’s a high calorie food, olives and avocados, the good fats,” she explains.
Detailing her beauty routine on several YouTube videos, Musk prioritises moisturisers and an SPF (her cleanser and serum are both Dior, and she uses a La Mer lip balm.) In keeping with her health conscious lifestyle, Musk has shared that real beauty is about a positive attitude and sharing a smile with someone. “If you enjoy your life, than you become more beautiful because you are happier. Spend more time sharing your wisdom with others, mentoring younger people and showing them that we have a lot of energy and good stuff still left in us.”
She is the queen of no makeup makeup and even manages to make a smokey eye look subtle. When everyone else was going for heavy contour and laminated eyebrows, she continued to promote enhancing your natural features with simple tricks and smart product placement. If you have seen any of her videos, you will notice how little product she actually uses. Even Victoria Beckham commented how surprised she was when she went to remove her makeup after a shoot with Lisa on how little product was applied.