As the mother of a billionaire genius, Maye Musk’s popularity is nowhere near the stardom of her son, Elon Musk. However, it’s not just because of Elon that Maye has a recognizable name. Contrary to what some may believe, she had a reputable career as a model and a dietitian. She’s also wealthy in her own right as Maye Musk has an estimated net worth of $20 million.
Early Life
Before becoming a Musk, her name was Maye Haldeman and was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, on April 19, 1948. She grew up with four other siblings and has a twin sister but are not identical.
In 1952, her mother, Winnifred Josephine and her father, Dr. Joshua Norman Haldeman, took their family on a prop plane across the world. They spent a decade wandering the Kalahari desert in pursuit of the legendary Lost City of the Kalahari. Her parents were famous and held exhibitions to share details about their trips.
Modeling Career
In 1969, Maye took part in the Miss South Africa beauty contest and made it to the final. In Canada and the US, she continued her modeling work.
Some of highest earning modeling gigs include appearing on Special K cereal boxes, in a video with Beyoncé, commercials with Revlon, Virgin America, and Target. In 2011, she posed nude for Time magazine, as well as with a fake pregnant stomach for New York magazine. In 2012, Maye got the opportunity to feature on Elle Canada.
Sadly, her modeling career on the runway fell apart at the age of 18, only to resurface at the age of 60. At 69, she became CoverGirl’s oldest spokesperson in September 2017.
Marriage
At 22 years old, Maye married Errol Musk, a South African engineer she met in high school. Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca were the three children they had together but they broke up in 1979. Reportedly, Errol was violent both mentally and physically. Maye filed for divorce as he abused her and pushed her to lose connections with her family,
By 1989, Maye had taken her children to Canada. However, juggling motherhood and work proved difficult. As a result, she gave the children complete autonomy over their lives and had to become dependent at a young age.
Current Status
Today, Maye Musk continues to model at 75 years old and was signed by Creative Artists Agency in 2021. In 2019, she published a memoir titled. “A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success.”
Musk is now a registered dietitian, she got a degree from University of the Free State in South Africa and earned a master’s degree in nutritional science from the University of Toronto.
Her children are doing well on their own. Tosca is a filmmaker, Kimbal is a chef and entrepreneur, and Elon is leading humanity to Mars with SpaceX and running Twitter.
