Maye Musk

Early life and career.

Maye Haldeman was born on April 19, 1948 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, a twin and one of five children. Her family moved to Pretoria, South Africa, in 1950. Her parents, Winnifred Josephine "Wyn" (Fletcher) and Dr. Joshua Norman Haldeman, a chiropractor and amateur archeologist, were adventurous and flew the family around the world in a prop plane in 1952. For over ten years, the family would spend time roaming the Kalahari desert 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, a South African engineer she met in high school. They had three children: Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk and Tosca Musk. She named Elon after her American grandfather, John Elon Haldeman (born in Illinois). Maye earned a master's degree in dietetics 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.

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.

Later life.

Maye Musk at Brain Bar 2019

Her modelling career continued in Canada and the United States. She has appeared on boxes of Special K cereal, in Revlon ads,and in a Beyoncé video. She appeared nude on the cover of Time magazine for a health issue and also nude on the cover of New York magazine in 2011 with a fake pregnant belly. She was on the cover of Elle Canada in 2012, and starred in advertisement campaigns for Target and Virgin America. In September 2017, she became CoverGirl's oldest spokesmodel at age 69, which one news story reported as "making history". In 2021, she was signed by Creative Artists Agency.

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's wedding.

Maye Musk had a cameo on season 46 of Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2021 alongside Elon Musk. Being the day before Mother's Day, Elon Musk joked that his mother's name is spelled like the month of May except with an "e" at the end.