Maye Musk: “When I said that my son Elon was a genius, the teachers thought it was a mother thing. No one else saw what I did”

FIVE HOURS WITH MAYE – Maye Musk poses with a Bar jacket and pants by Dior, an onyx earring and diamonds by De Molina Cuevas and a fan by Olivier Bernoux.

Morgane Lay and Jonny Cochrane

The truth is that Elon, with his histrionic gestures and headlines, and Maye, with her elegant demeanor, formed one of the most applauded couples of the night. She, in her couture gown, stood out as one of the few guests who understood the dress code. “Well, but that was thanks to Dior,” she says modestly. “What I did go was warm, because the truth is that it was cool. In addition to being warm, velvet looked great in photos”, she maintains while Junior Cedeño tries a passionate red tone on his lips. With his white and immaculate skin, the truth is that the official make-up artist of the house He has had little else to do. Maye Musk is gorgeous. On the other hand, it is evident that she manages her thriving modeling career with solvency and influencer He checks his phone often to update his Instagram account. “Age doesn’t bother me in the least. I am too busy having a great time ”, she sentences in her book One woman, one plan (Roca Editorial), published in Spain in 2020 and these days in France, and in which, along with his advice on various aspects —“Life can only get better”, “Being interesting is better than being pretty” or “Don’t sunk in misery”, say the headings of some chapters, evokes an idyllic childhood. In the fifties they moved from their native Canada to a new country, South Africa. “I was two and a half years old when we got on a freighter to Johannesburg with my father’s plane, Winnie, on board. They had to remove the wings, yes. My parents—Joshua, a chiropractor, and Wyn, a dancer—were two adventurers who flew from South Africa to Australia and across the African continent without a radio or GPS,” says Maye. “On vacation, my mother would pack food for three weeks, five children and two adults, a barrel of gasoline and another of water, and we would cross the Kalahari in a caravan. We were looking for the lost city [de Guillermo Farini, un canadiense que atravesó el desierto a finales del siglo XIX en una carreta tirada por un buey y decía haber hallado unas ruinas]but what we found was a lot of wild animals that could eat us,” he jokes. —, my father kept watch that there were no lions or hyenas around, but my mother was able to bake Scones“, he recounts wistfully.

There is no doubt that Maye Musk learned valuable lessons during her childhood. “She lives on the edge, but sensibly”, was the motto of the Handelmanns. However, her childhood survival games did not serve her well when she reached adulthood. “I should have acted faster, but you get to think that you can change people. And it is not like that. So you suffer. What I have tried to convey with my book is that women, myself, have to suffer less”.

—Your children, did they agree with you revealing the less kind passages of your life?
“They insisted on it. In fact, I wanted to be inspiring and avoid the negative aspects, but my children said no. That he had to tell everything; especially that. People think you’re like on Instagram, perfect, and you’re not. I did what they told me. I have lived through very hard times.

“That” is her stormy marriage to the father of her three children—Elon; Tosca (1974), who is a film producer; and Kimbal, who was born in 1979 and is a renowned chef. Errol Musk mistreated her from the beginning of her relationship. In One woman, one plan, recounts how, at just five years old, Elon defended her from beatings. She “punched him on the back of the knees to try to get him to stop.”

Maye’s dancer sister, Lynne.

personal album

-Reading your book it is not clear to me why you got married. She didn’t seem very in love…
-It was not! I had not seen it in two years, my family had forced me to leave it because
He seemed evil and violent to them. But you know? I had started working as a model at 15
years and somehow had never dated. She hardly went out. When I graduated [en Nutrición en la universidad] I went to Cape Town, which is 600 kilometers from Johannesburg, but he kept visiting me… One day he arrived with the engagement ring. I told him I would never marry him, but soon after he showed up at my parents’ house and told them that I had said yes. My twin sister had a boyfriend, so they thought, “OK, let’s do a double wedding.” With the first telegram of congratulations I received, I called him to ask for an explanation. “The only reason I’m aggressive with you is because we’re not married,” he told me. Around that time I made one mistake after another. When I realized it, he had gained 30 kilos from anxiety, but he had the dress ready [que confeccionó su hermana Lynne], with many layers of chiffon to hide my silhouette. I know it sounds weird, but I was too polite to say “no” with everything ready. So all of a sudden, there she was: married to a man who, though he’d promised me she was going to change, was absolutely not going to.

‘THIS IS US’ – Maye Musk with her children Elon and Tosca at Kimbal’s wedding on the Costa Brava.

personal album

According to her chilling account, Errol Musk started hitting her on their honeymoon. “I came back from Europe bruised and pregnant, but I wasn’t going to tell my family ‘Take me back home,'” laments Maye. “Looking back and wondering if that hell was worth living through, I think if I hadn’t married him, I wouldn’t have had three wonderful children.”

“Have you forgiven him?”
-Nope! It’s a monster.
-Have relationship?
-None.
“Not even for Christmas?”
-Of course not! And less than ever at Christmas!

Maye tells me how, once she managed to end her nine-year marriage, her ex-husband spent another nine years suing her. She “she did it to ruin me, thinking that she would go back to him. Something that was never going to happen, because it is better to be poor than to lead a miserable life, ”she cries. In One woman, one plan humorously recounts how she learned he had rebuilt his life: “I’ve met the most terrible and frightening guy on the face of the earth,” a friend told her. “He’s called Musk.”

“Well, he’s my ex-husband.”

Maye stopped living in terror at the age of 42. She changed South Africa for Toronto — she got ahead working as a nutritionist and, sporadically, as a model —, with her three children, who gradually lost contact with her father.

Elon definitely did it seven years ago, when Errol Musk had a daughter with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, who is 35 years his junior. They just became parents again. In 2018, the co-founder of PayPal was pleased about his father in the magazine rolling stone. She described him as “a horrible being”. From time to time the Musk patriarch is also eloquent in the media. In a recent interview, he revealed aspects of Elon’s childhood, such as his premature plans to be a millionaire –which, it must be said, his father did not take very seriously–, that he was a victim of bullying or that “when he says he wants to save humanity, he means it. It’s not a slogan.” In that he agrees with his ex-wife. “I adore my children and I am very proud of all their achievements. Elon is designing electric cars to save the planet and launching rockets into space,” says Maye, who was clear that her son was different, to sum it up in one word, when he turned 8. “The teachers rolled their eyes when I told them he was a genius, they thought it was a mother thing, she jokes. “No one else saw what I did. He was very quiet, he always had his nose in a book. He learned to read right away and was brilliant at science and math,” recalls Maye. It was she who bought her first computer, with which her offspring created a video game, blast. She was 12 years old.

MOTHER COURAGE – Maye Musk smiles in a Dior dress and Molina Cuevas gold jewelry. On the lips, Rouge Dior Forever in shade 210 Forever Naturalle.

Morgane Lay and Jonny Cochrane

“Do you often ask for advice?”

-Oh no! Never. None of my kids do, and I don’t tell them I’m in Cannes either. You see it on Instagram. I was going to go to Paris recently, I posted it and someone commented: “Oh, I just saw Tosca there”. I texted him and he said, “Yeah, I’m here until Tuesday afternoon.” Just when I arrived. We couldn’t even see each other at the airport! And Kimbal asked me to go out to dinner with him and his children a few days ago but it was the MET Gala. “What a grandma you are!” he replied.

Mayte Musk has 13 grandchildren, but on her iPhone wallpaper she has a picture of her with her dog Del Rey, which I see every time she unlocks it to, for example, show me photos of Kimbal’s wedding on the Costa Brava. He makes him happy, while we have lunch and he spreads the butter on the white bread with delight. “I’m a nutritionist, but I like tasty food,” she confesses while drinking a latte with normal milk. “My mantra is: eat right, don’t smoke, wear sunscreen. Do exercise. I walk my dog”.

With those wicks —and, of course, a privileged genetics— Maye has just been on the cover of the magazine Sports Illustrated. “Although they put a palm leaf on me, everyone has been able to see my legs,” she says modestly. From Cannes she will travel to Korea and from there to New York, where she lives with Del Rey. Her pet has somewhat contributed to her giving up on finding love, specifically through dating apps. “My dog ​​loves me. When I come home late from work, or from a trip, he doesn’t ask me any questions. At this point I don’t need anyone special anymore. I’m not against marriage, it’s just… getting married is easy, but getting divorced is hell (laughs). If you know someone but you think it’s not forever, tell them clearly.

“Is he at his best stage?”
-Yes. Definitely. Look at me: in Cannes, with Dior. My life is wonderful.

In fact, his hashtags favorite on Instagram goes like this: It’s great to be 74.

Maye Musk poses with a Dior shirt, an onyx and coral earring by Molina Cuevas. On her lips, Rouge Dior Forever in shade 999.

Morgane Lay and Jonny Cochrane

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Maye Musk: “When I said that my son Elon was a genius, the teachers thought it was a mother thing. No one else saw what I did”