Maye Musk’s children praise historic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover

Musk is mother to sons Elon and Kimbal, and daughter Tosca

(Getty Images)

Maye Musk’s historic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover is not just being praised for breaking down barriers in the modelling industry, it’s also being celebrated by her own children.

The 74-year-old model, dietician, and author is a mother to three children – billionaire son and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and film producer Tosca Musk. As SI Swimsuit unveiled its oldest cover star in history, Maye’s children shared their praise for their mother on social media.

“My mom. Showing us all how to really rock life. Amazing!” tweeted Kimbal on Monday.

The 49-year-old chef is a sustainable food advocate and the co-founder of The Kitchen Restaurant Group, a family of restaurants based in Colorado focused on preparing locally-sourced food. His non-profit organisation, Big Green, teaches people how to grow their own food to provide nutrition security in their communities. Kimbal Musk was also an early investor in his older brother Elon’s company X.com, which eventually became part of PayPal, and currently serves as a Tesla board member.

Kimbal wasn’t the only member of the family to applaud Maye’s cover story. On Instagram, 47-year-old Tosca proudly commented under her mother’s Instagram post: “That’s My MOM! So cool @mayemusk”.

As part of the 2022 annual swimsuit issue, her daughter wrote an essay titled The Unstoppable Force of Maye Musk, in which she reflected on her mother’s career accomplishments as a single mother. “She is an uncontainable force, and she’s the most fearless woman I’ve ever known,” Tosca wrote.

“My whole life, I’ve seen my mom do everything. As a result I think I’ll always expect her to be able to do everything,” she added. “Sometimes I wonder whether it’s time I start limiting those expectations, as she gets older. But then I look at her again, still unstoppable, and I think: ‘Not yet.’”

Although two out of three of Musk’s children have publicly supported their mother as SI Swimsuit’s oldest cover star, Elon has yet to respond to his mother’s cover story.

While posing for the cover shoot on location in Belize, Musk opened up about her eldest son’s accomplishments as founder of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the soon-to-be new owner of Twitter.

“Elon has gone beyond what I could ever wish for him,” the Canadian-South African model said.

She recalled: “Elon, after he sold his PayPal, he said: ‘What should I do? Should I do electric cars or solar energy or space?’ And I said: ‘Well, just choose one.’

“And he didn’t listen to me, so there you go.”

Musk joins fellow swimsuit cover models Kim Kardashian, singer Ciara, and rising model Yumi Nu as the faces for the 2022 issue. While the model may be the oldest person to pose for the SI Swimsuit cover, she began her modelling career more than five decades ago. Now, she hopes that her groundbreaking cover helps to dismantle expectations for women as they age.

“I didn’t think age would be a problem because as a dietician and a scientist, age is not a problem,” Musk said. “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.”

She added: “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.”