At 76, Maye Musk continues to redefine what it means to age gracefully. The supermodel graced the January 2024 cover of Tatler China, and on January 23, she shared a behind-the-scenes look at her striking appearance: a red silk cape dress paired with a bold feathered hat.

While many only recently discovered her as a fashion icon, Maye has been modeling since she was 15. Her decades-long career includes appearances in Vogue, Time, and even a cameo in a Beyoncé music video. She’s also been a spokesperson for Revlon and is a registered dietitian. In 2019, she released a memoir and lifestyle guide reflecting on her 70 years of life.

“I used to accept misfortune,” she said in the book. “But luckily, I managed to turn things around and find joy again. I want to share my story to inspire others who feel lost.”

Behind her elegance and success is a past filled with struggle. Maye married Erroll Musk in 1970 and had three children: Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca. In a 2019 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, both she and Elon Musk accused Erroll of being emotionally abusive. “People called him a pig because of how horribly he treated me in public,” she said. “I was too scared to admit I’d made a mistake. He called me stupid, ugly, boring.”

Despite coming from a wealthy household, Maye and her children lived in poverty after her divorce. Erroll was described as stingy and unwilling to even buy clothes for their kids. After nine years of marriage, Maye left with her children and moved from South Africa to Toronto, Canada, where life was anything but easy. “Those years were all about survival,” she told Vogue. “I was heartbroken and terrified I couldn’t support my kids. We had nothing. I cried when they spilled milk because I couldn’t afford to buy more.”

To keep the family afloat, Maye worked five jobs. She even took a position as a lab assistant so her children could attend classes for free at the University of Toronto. Her first paycheck went toward buying a rug for their empty apartment—and a computer for Elon. “He sat on the rug and used it,” she recalled.

With no men in the house, she did all the repairs herself. “My daughter Tosca remembers when I hurt my hand hammering a nail. She told me, ‘Mommy, if your hand gets hurt, you can’t model anymore.’”

Maye raised her children to be self-reliant. She helped them find jobs early on—Elon at Microsoft and Kimbal at a bank. “I just tried to teach them the basics—how to care for themselves, how to be kind, and how to be polite,” she told CNBC in 2019. “I didn’t scold them if they weren’t successful. I never checked their homework or forced them to sit at a desk. Elon only studied what interested him—and he worked hard.”

Through all the hardship, her children never forgot her sacrifices. When money was tight, Elon and Kimbal once gave her a toy house and a model car for her birthday, promising to get her real ones someday. “That toy house still means the most to me,” she said in her Tatler interview.

Today, Maye Musk is not only admired for her poise and fashion but also for the resilience and love that shaped her journey. In recent years, she has even spoken out in defense of Tesla and criticized the Biden administration for overlooking the company’s impact on the electric vehicle industry.