Maye Musk (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Haldeman; born April 19, 1948) is a model and

dietitian A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ...

. She has been a model for 50 years, appearing on the covers of magazines, including a ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine health edition, ''Women's Day'', international editions of ''Vogue'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue. The mother of

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The B ...

Kimbal Musk Kimbal Reeve Musk (born 20 September 1972) is a South African restaurateur, chef, and entrepreneur. He owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group, a collection of "community" restaurants located in Colorado, Chicago, and Indianapolis. He is the co-fou ...

, and

Tosca Musk Tosca Musk (born July 20, 1974) is a South African filmmaker. She is an executive producer and director of feature films, television programs, and web content. Her work includes K. Bromberg's ''Driven'', Rachel van Dyken's ''Matchmaker's Playbook ...

, she holds Canadian, South African, and American citizenship.

Early life and career

Maye Haldeman was born on April 19, 1948, in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

, Canada, a twin and one of five children. Her family moved to

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, in 1950. Her parents, Winnifred Josephine "Wyn" (Fletcher) and Dr. Joshua Norman Haldeman, a former director of Technocracy Incorporated, a former Regina chiropractor and amateur archaeologist, were adventurous and flew the family around the world in a prop plane in 1952. For over ten years, the family spent time roaming the

Kalahari desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...

in search of its fabled Lost City of the Kalahari. Their parents gave slide shows and talks about their journeys. "My parents were very famous, but they were never snobs," she said. As a young woman, Haldeman was a finalist in the 1969 Miss South Africa beauty competition. In 1970, she married Errol Musk (born May 2, 1946), a South African engineer she met in high school. They had three children:

, and

. She named Elon after her American grandfather, John Elon Haldeman (born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

). Maye earned a master's degree in

dietetics A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ...

from the University of the Orange Free State in South Africa. She later earned another master's degree in nutritional science from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In 1979, she divorced Errol Musk. Two years later, Elon decided to live with his father. Kimbal joined Elon four years later. After graduating from high school, Elon decided to move to Canada; in 1989, six months later, Maye moved to Canada with her daughter Tosca. She is bi-lingual speaking Afrikaans and English.

Later life

Her modelling career continued in Canada and the United States. She has appeared on boxes of Special K cereal, in

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brother ...

ads, and in a

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

video. She appeared nude on the cover of ''Time'' magazine for a health issue and also nude on the cover of ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine in 2011 with a fake pregnant belly. She was on the cover of ''

Elle Canada ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the ...

'' in 2012, and starred in advertisement campaigns for

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

and

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost U.S. airline that operated from 2007 until 2018, when it was acquired by Alaska Airlines. The airline primarily focused on operating low-fare service between cities on the West Coast and other major metropol ...

. In September 2017, she became '' CoverGirl's'' oldest spokesmodel at age 69, which one news story reported as "making history". In 2022, at age 74, she was the oldest ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' swimsuit model to date, appearing on the cover of the annual issue. In addition to modelling, she has a business as a dietitian and gives presentations worldwide. She wrote a memoir titled ''A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success'' (2019). In 2021, she was one of the guests at

Lady Kitty Spencer Lady Kitty Eleanor Lewis (née Spencer; born 28 December 1990) is a British model and aristocrat. She is the eldest child of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, niece of Diana, Princess of Wales and the first cousin of The Prince of Wales and T ...

's wedding. Maye Musk appeared alongside her son Elon on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' on May 8, 2021, the day before

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Musk, Maye 1948 births South African female models Canadian female models People from Regina, Saskatchewan Dietitians Living people University of the Free State alumni Canadian twins University of Toronto alumni People from Pretoria IMG Models models South African people of Canadian descent Canadian emigrants to South Africa Musk family