Maye Musk

Maye Musk was born in 1948 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.⁠[1]

In 1950, when she was almost three, her family moved from Canada to South Africa. She has a twin sister, Kaye, and her parents ran a chiropractic practice.⁠[2]

Her parents would take the family on three-week trips through the Kalahari Desert. She began modeling at 15 and continued while studying to become a dietitian.⁠[3]

In 1969 she was a finalist in the Miss South Africa beauty competition.⁠[4]

In 1970 she married Errol Graham Musk, a South African engineer; they divorced in 1979.⁠[5]

She has said she married at 22: “I got married and fell pregnant on honeymoon.” The couple had three children, Elon, Kimbal and Tosca.⁠[6]

After South Africa’s divorce laws changed in 1979, she felt able to leave the marriage.⁠[2]

In 1989 she moved from Johannesburg to Toronto and raised her three children alone in a small rent-controlled apartment.⁠[7]

Of her years in Canada she said: “I was a research officer at the University of Toronto.”⁠[2]

In 1996 she moved to San Francisco.⁠[7]

She has said: “When I moved to America, it took me 12 years to become a citizen.”⁠[8]

In May 2016, at 68, she signed with IMG Models, saying: “Suddenly there’s a demand for models in their sixties.” She had stopped dyeing her hair at around 60.⁠[9]

In 2017, at 69, she became the oldest spokesmodel for the beauty brand CoverGirl.⁠[4]

In 2018, at 70, she appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and said: “And now, at 70, I’m doing the best work I’ve ever done.”⁠[6]

Her book A Woman Makes a Plan was published by Penguin Random House, with the ebook and audiobook released on December 31, 2019, and a Penguin Life paperback on December 29, 2020.⁠[10]

After the book was launched in mainland China in 2020, she became a celebrity there.⁠[11]

On May 16, 2022, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit named its four cover models for the year: Kim Kardashian, Ciara, Yumi Nu and Maye Musk, then 74.⁠[12]

She thereby became the oldest cover model in the issue’s history at the time.⁠[4]

In March 2023 she made her first tour of China, posting photos of herself in Guangzhou, and drew wide attention on mainland social media.⁠[11]

On April 12, 2023, the University of the Free State awarded her an honorary doctorate in dietetics. She said: “This is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”⁠[13]

In 2024 she was featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s “60th Anniversary Legends” gallery.⁠[4]

In August 2024 the University of the Free State launched the Dr Maye Musk Scholarship, funding two full-time master’s students in nutrition and dietetics for two years; the announcement thanked her for her “generous support.”⁠[14]

On October 5, 2024, she posted on X suggesting that people could use “10 fake names” to vote 10 times; a Community Note added to the post said this was illegal. She then wrote “Ignore my previous post.” and the next day said critics did not understand sarcasm.⁠[15]

The Federal Election Commission declined to comment; Stanford election-law expert Nate Persily said such an exaggerated statement did not seem prosecutable.⁠[16]

On October 31, on FOX Business’s The Bottom Line, she said she had registered as a Democrat when she became a U.S. citizen and later switched to the Republican Party: “I just felt such a relief that I’m not part of the party that’s now malicious and dishonest.”⁠[17]

In April 2025 she marked her 77th birthday in Mumbai, India, posting: “Thank you @elonmusk for sending these beautiful birthday flowers to me in Mumbai.”⁠[1]

During the visit she launched the Hindi edition of A Woman Makes a Plan in Mumbai and visited the Siddhivinayak Temple with the actor Jacqueline Fernandez.⁠[18]

In March 2026 she announced her second book, Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age, for release on September 15 that year.⁠[19]

In June 2026, at 78, photographed in New Delhi for Harper’s Bazaar India, she said: “I found that people fear ageing and change. I hope they handle it better now.”⁠[20]

She added: “The industry has truly realised that older women are a significant market who appreciate and purchase high-end fashion.”⁠[20]

On September 15, 2026, Timeless was published in the UK by HarperCollins’s HQ imprint in 224 pages. The publisher describes it as a memoir and guide to reinvention, covering her survival of a difficult marriage, single motherhood, her dietitian career and her late-life work as a couture model.⁠[21]

In the United States Harper Wave released it the same day; she narrated the audiobook, which runs 5 hours 43 minutes.⁠[22]

After Elon MuskElon MuskElon Musk is an entrepreneur who founded SpaceX and has long served as chief executive of Tesla; he also took part in creating PayPal, OpenAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI. He acquired Twitter in 2022, and his businesses span spaceflight, electric vehicles, energy, artificial intelligence, and social media.Open the full entry promoted the book on X, she replied confirming that it includes stories about him: “My book does include stories about you, my genius son.”⁠[23]

Promoting the book on the Pod Force One podcast, in an episode released on September 14, she claimed that journalists are “paid a lot” to lie about Elon Musk, without offering evidence, and called him “a lovely dad.”⁠[24]

In October 2026 she recalled that she had nearly turned down the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover because of her wrinkles and cellulite: “At my age, you have wrinkles and cellulite on your arms and on your thighs, so I prefer to wear long sleeves.”⁠[25]

She holds a master’s in dietetics from the University of the Orange Free State and a master’s in nutritional science from the University of Toronto.⁠[7]

An announcement by the University of the Free State on April 3, 2023, states that she completed a Diploma in Hospital Dietetics at Universitas Hospital and was offered a bursary for a Master of Science degree before moving to Canada.⁠[26]

By 2023 she had run her own nutrition business in eight cities across three countries for more than 45 years.⁠[13]

She has served as President of the Consulting Dietitians of Canada and Chair of Nutrition Entrepreneurs at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; her alma mater calls her “the only dietitian to take the registration exams in three countries.”⁠[26]