Meet Elon Musk’s mother Maye Musk who suffered domestic abuse, raised children all by herself for 40 years, aged gracefully to turn supermodel in her 70s

Maye Musk is a 77-year-old is a Canadian model and dietitian. She has been prominently a model who has worked in the fashion industry for 50 years, during which she appeared on the cover of prominent magazines including Time, Vogue, Elle and others. She is also a dietician and has received a very higher education. Apart from Elon Musk, she has two more children, Kimbal Musk is a restaurateur and philanthropist, and Tosca Musk is a filmmaker and founder of Passionflix. 

Describing her modeling career, Musk wrote in an Instagram post a year ago, “My runway career started at a modeling school in Pretoria, South Africa, when I was a nerdy 15-year-old. I made my suit, and had my hair styled for the first time. To my surprise, I continued walking in runway shows in Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein, Toronto, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.” 

Maye has been continuing to be a model even in her 70s and has defied age stereotypes and aged gracefully. She is shining brightly in her 50s, 60s, and 70s, as an elderly supermodel with style, grace, confidence and the charm that is lacking in some of the models in their 20s as well. She featured on the covers of prominent magazines like Time, Women’s Day, various international editions of Vogue and even became swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated magazine’s swimsuit issue at 74. She became a finalist in the 1969 Miss South Africa beauty competition. At 69, she became CoverGirl's oldest spokesmodel. 

After her 50s she has been busier than ever in the fashion industry. At 68 she walked in her first New York Fashion Week in the Spring 2016 show and also in the Fall/Winter 2017 shows. She even appeared in Beyoncé’s 2013 “Haunted” music video, signed Atelier Swarovski as its brand ambassador and even featured on a billboard at Times Square. Brands have long been chasing her for collaboration. She has been modelling in Canada and the United States. She even appeared naked on both the Time magazine cover and New York magazine cover in 2011, when she was 68 with a fake pregnant belly.  

When she was 34, Maye started interning at a hospital to get training and expertise on diets for chronic diseases. Working there, she earned a scholarship as an opportunity to work with colostomy patients and get a Master of Science degree. She again wet for her master’s at 41 which she completed from Canada, University of Toronto, and earned Master of Science degree in Nutritional Science. As her efforts in dietetics were praised by the medical community, she was honoured with a PhD, Doctor of Dietetics, by the University of Free State. 

Maye married South African engineer Errol Musk in 1970 and divorced him in 1979. Two years later Elon Musk started living with his father whom Kimbel joined four years later. For all those years during her marriage she was subjected to domestic violence and did not even receive any alimony due to which she had to raise three of her children alone. In her 40s she was broken and had difficulty paying her rent. For the initial years she worked as background model and styled herself. She made local advertisements as her side hustle to earn her living. But over the years she made a name for herself as older model by letting herself age naturally and gracefully as she let her hair grow grey and with confidence made solo debut on ramps. However, she wrote another book, ‘Feel Fantastic- Maye Musk’s Good Health Clinic’ in 1996 about healthy habits and lifestyle changes to age healthily.