Maye Musk | Happiness at 74

In The lessons of a lifetime, Maye Musk, mother of the controversial multi-billionaire Elon Musk, recounts her life, between South Africa, Canada and the United States, her hardships, her violent ex-husband, and her career as a dietician-nutritionist and model. We spoke to her earlier this fall, when she was on a promotional tour in Paris, for the release of her autobiography, translated into French.

Maye Musk’s life changed at 59 when she let her hair turn gray. Two years later, she was on the cover of the magazine New York. At 67, she walked the runway for the first time at New York Fashion Week, at 69 she became a Cover Girl, and at 74, she posed in a swimsuit for the cover of the magazine Sports Illustrated and recently became an ambassador for Dior.

“If someone had told me one day that I would be on the cover of the magazine Sports Illustrated, I would not have believed it! “, she exclaims in a telephone interview. “I’ve worked hard all my life, as a dietitian and as a model, but all of a sudden, thanks to social media, my gray hair took effect. We now look at older women differently, and the demand is greater. »

have a plan

Maye Musk is not afraid to age. Maybe because each decade of his life has always been better than the last. She writes that her twenties were awful, except for the birth of her three children, her thirties were bad, her forties a whirlwind of activities to survive. In her 50s in New York she tried to start her own business, her 60s were more stable with her kids, grandkids, and job, and today she’s busier (and happier) than ever. “What I learned is that you can always find a way out, you have to have a plan,” she explains. At certain times in life, I believed that I would never be happy. »

In an interview, Maye Musk reminds us that she is Canadian. Maye Haldeman (her maiden name) was born in 1948 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Two years later, the family moved to Pretoria, South Africa. His parents were great travelers and, with their five children, they lived multiple adventures in Africa, in Europe, in Arabia, in the small family propeller plane. With the motto “Live dangerously. Carefully”. She has extraordinary memories of all these trips where she came across lions, scorpions, wildebeest, vultures, and where she developed a great sense of resourcefulness.

She participated in beauty contests from the age of 15, then was a finalist in the Miss South Africa contest, but modeling has always been a supplement to her income since she became a dietician and nutritionist. “It became a second career. Modeling was a bonus. I met different, creative people, it changed me from scientists. »

His marriage, “a mistake”

Maye Musk describes her nine years with her violent and abusive ex-husband (Errol Musk) as the most painful of her life. He beat her, she was ashamed and lived in fear. She doesn’t like talking about it, but decided to do so in her book to help women in the same situation find the strength to leave.

She had three children in three years, Elon, Kimbal and Tosca, the best thing of her life, she says, even though her marriage was a mistake.

“I started from scratch, at 31, I moved to Durban, then to Johannesburg,” she adds.

She does not advise moving all the time as she did, because it is exhausting, says the one who has lived, as an adult, in nine different cities and three countries. Because at 42, she landed in Toronto to do her doctorate and open a dietetics practice. “I didn’t speak French well enough to go to the University of Montreal, but I really like your city,” explains in French the woman who still has family in Ontario and Alberta.

It was his son Elon who wanted to move to Canada because he wanted to pursue his interest in computers. He got his first computer at age 12, in 1983, and created the game Blaster some months later. Maye Musk knew very early, around 3 years old, that his son was gifted. She nicknamed him the Encyclopedia because he had read theEncyclopedia Britannica and that he remembered everything.

“You know, there are a lot of geniuses who stay in their basement inventing all sorts of things without succeeding in applying them. I’m happy to see what Elon has managed to do, she said. A lot of people ask me about Elon, but I always say I have three successful kids. My daughter Tosca created the Passionflix platform and makes romantic comedies, and Kimbal founded The Kitchen and Big Green, he sets up educational gardens and vegetable gardens in schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods. She always let her children develop their passions and interests, while encouraging them.

Today, Maye Musk lives in New York, alone, with her dog, and is very happy. She takes advantage of her children and grandchildren. “I’m 74 years old, I feel good about myself, I like what I do, I have fun and I hope to continue for a long time! Maybe this is the secret of my happiness? »

The lessons of a lifetime

Maye Musk

Editions Thierry Souccar

253 pages
In bookstores on Wednesday