Full Interview: Maye Musk, Mother Of Elon Musk, Talks About Her Extraordinary Life

well here we go i am so delighted to be speaking with the beautiful and talented may musk may when people see this interview they're going to look at you and say oh my god i know who she is that's that beautiful woman who looks half her age who does international modeling so tell me about some of the campaigns where would people know you from well first of all the covergirl commercial that plays over and over i wonder what age that is isn't that fabulous yes it is it makes even young women feel happy about aging if in your 70s you can do a beauty commercial because you make it look so effortless well it's um you know i'm looked after well i mean they treat me so beautifully so it does feel effortless but to to be in good health and and look good in your 70s you really have to eat well and you have to be happy and you have to you know mix with happy people so that you don't have misery around you which is aging i love that you talk about that in the book and we're gonna get to that but of course i also have to get to the question about who your children are okay the most famous being this guy named elon i just transformed us in terms of transportation space i get nervous before every rocket i mean it's the 50th launch or something so i've been two launchers but i've also uh usually now it's on my ipad that's amazing yeah but you also accompany him to quite a few things yeah so go to try to get to many launches especially of tesla but then i also have to go to kimball's big green launchers and and you know especially the the gardens you know in in la it's in compton and hawthorn where you watch children growing their own vegetables and fruit it's just too wonderful so in case people are wondering kibble is your second son yeah and tusca is your daughter it's my daughter so tell us about your your other children as well what they're doing well tosca has the platform called passionflix and this is where she takes best-selling romance novels and makes them into movies but with these movies the women have to be strong and confident and successful and intelligent and they are not abused they're not they're not diseased they're not dying and all that type of thing she's done a lot of those and now it's her own platform and then in the end it's happy of course there's drama because it's romance female directors wow women get paid the same as men how she features the women in her films does a lot of that come from her mother she's also watched her mom become this amazing person well um my kids are happy with me they always when they are interviewed they say lovely things about me and that's that's nice that's so sweet yeah and your own mom because i read about her in the book as well what what a force of nature she was yes way ahead of her time but then she was always treated as an equal so she wasn't aware that women are not treated equally because my father treated us all my brothers and sisters and and me we were all treated equally so we didn't know there was a difference and then and then you go through stages of your life and you figure out things and that they're not pleasant yes yes we're going to talk about that next but i want you to finish then talking about uh kimball yes because you mentioned the gardens yes how'd that come about well that came about when he broke his neck his inner tubing with his his children broke his neck and he was two months lying flat i mean it was horrifying and uh with he's got a six inch bolt in his neck and then he just said you know even though we were went through poverty you know peanut butter sandwiches and bean soup we always had enough fruits and vegetables and many children don't have enough and so that's when he decided he's going to build vegetable and fruit gardens in colorado because that's where he lives and then he found the gardens fell apart and the teachers don't have time to to help with the gardens so then he said i have to start this big green non-profit and he has a he always has about a hundred gardens in the city so that his team will then teach the children the children have to do all the work you know put the the dirt into the into the containers and then they have to plant the seeds but they have an expert gardener teaching them how to do it okay so people who are hearing this and wondering you know i know you let your children follow their own path and that's one thing that you also write about here right the people that you love let them go their way right and you didn't just you want to go to school did they pay for their home school they had to get loans and they had to get scholarships because i couldn't afford it you know and even my two master of science degrees i didn't do them because i had money i couldn't afford to do it but then i got scholarships to be able to do research work that the medical faculty wanted me to do you know that all sounds like planting the seeds and whether you knew it or not at the time even planting seeds in your children which explains in a way just how you were brought up so i want you to take me back to the beginning i know you were born in canada born in canada and can you imagine at two and a half uh i we were on a cargo ship coming from canada to south africa no 1950 with a plane correct you broke the plane down the plane my dad took the wings off and and because he had to crate it and then landing in cape town and then with four children in the back seat and this one you know there's one propeller it's a canvas plane and flew up uh south africa to find out where we should live that's amazing i know now that's adventurous no question about that and this is so this is you're a youngster when this happened yes i was yeah before before what i can remember i just see photos of it and and the photos that i've seen in your book you you look happy yes we were so happy as children and we would go across the kalahari desert with a compass there were no maps we mapped it out for them so there's a maypan and a mayhill and and the camel patrol will be ready to find us if we didn't get to the other side of the desert in three weeks wow i know well tell me you got to south africa you went to school there yes how did you you met your husband there yes and your children's father yes so tell me how that came about man i was a nerdy girl at school so i didn't really get dates you know because i was such a nerd and then then i became a model at 15 so then i became good enough to be dated by my ex-husband yes yes i had a better state as he he only dated the prettiest girls and then but i really wasn't attracted to him but he was very persistent and i wasn't getting many dates anyway so we did date quite a while but he was quite aggressive in that so pretty much and after a few years my brother said banned him from coming to my home and for two years i didn't see him and the next thing he turned up in cape town when i was working there with an engagement ring and i said i'll never wear it i'll never wear it and i don't know how he had my dress i don't know who gave it to him and then the next thing i get a telegram remember this is now 1970 okay and you didn't phone it was too expensive you didn't write and there was a telegram saying congratulations on getting married the invitations are out already there are 800 people coming so you need to come back home and i thought so he planned the wedding and everything he planned it with my twin sister because she was then getting married at the same time as me and my dad suggested we might as well both get married together and you don't want to upset your parents and say no i didn't uh i didn't agree to this so you went and so i went through it and i thought well you know i was lonely alone in cape town i was i'd gained 65 pounds and yeah and then i had back trouble and knee trouble so i wasn't in a happy situation and i thought well what can be worse marriage can't be that bad than it was you said something and i know it's in the book and you said i would be beaten up did you suffer that kind of abuse yes yeah yeah i think i was i was beaten up but the thing is and you know there was a saying in south africa when you get divorced you stop falling in the shower because every time you have a scene with bruises you said you fell in the shower yeah so there was it was a common saying in south africa when i was married i was told about three times a day that i'm boring and stupid and you know and ugly and and and if i protested then i got beaten up so i definitely never protested that but then in your mind you're saying i can't be that ugly and i can't be that you know i can't be that stupid i was a model and had a bachelor of science degree already but i could be boring i mean who knows because nobody wanted to be our friends and it's only when i got divorced did i find out that i had friends coming out of the woodwork they were they just didn't want to mix with my father it means that women can come back out of an abusive situation and live a better life and i had three wonderful children who gave me so much joy i just had to look at them and i would say how lucky i am so may you did get married and you had three wonderful children how long did you stay in the marriage before you moved back to canada first of all i was married for nine years then i ran away with the children i was there for 11 more years in lawsuits all the time from my ex-husband continuously and then i moved to canada at 41 and started all over but my funds were blocked in south africa i'd actually managed to buy a home you know and and now for once i was financially secure i had a big practice and nutrition practice i was modeling a lot and i was saying for once i'm financially secure and then i came to canada elon had already moved there so i came to visit him and because tosca wanted to move as well so we explored canada all the universities would take me on except for the university of montreal because my french isn't good enough i speak french afrikaans and which is like dutch and germany yes but it's not good enough for research work so then i came back thinking oh toronto is the best but when i came back tosca had sold my home my car and my furniture and she was 15 and nobody knew she was 15 because it was 5 for 10. she sold your home at 15 and the kids yeah but i still had to sign it because she couldn't sign it at 15 and she didn't have the rights but and then she just said why are we waiting i said i wanted to get my phd first at the university of cape town i was going to go there she said well wait we might as well go now and she had a point you know something the incredible things that you've done in this period of time and i know you don't mind talking about it because you wrote about it in your book a woman makes a plan yes and it sounds like you did almost every step of the way some of it well you had to you write about when you first you were raising three children on your own and you didn't have a lot of money yeah right tell me about that you're in like a one bedroom apartment well that was the one bedroom apartment when i was doing my hospital internship in bloom fontaine where i became completely bilingual because no one could speak english that really helps you with the language and so it was a one bedroom apartment kimball and tosca slept in the bedroom and i slept in the living room kitchen and and it was the doctor's quarters i was so honored that they would allow me to stay there while i worked in the hospital so then they paid me 300 a month while i was doing my studies and working and they charged me 77 for me and my kids to eat there and stay there so i was winning i had no way to spend money so that was great and then i ran a modeling school for the dietetic scholarship fund and then i did a lot of modeling too was that something that you thought went together the modeling and being a dietitian because being a dietitian you had to learn about nutrition did that enter your mind or was it just something totally you thought this is something i'd like to do no well i started modeling at 15 but i didn't pay much attention to it because i'm you know i knew it was very short term looking back i mean really and then uh so then i did the bachelor of science degree but i never let modelling interfere with my studies and i didn't interfere with my work as well and so then if they wanted to book me for a modeling job i needed three weeks notice that i didn't book clients that day and i wouldn't do more than four days a month all right but i was always surprised that they still wanted me that much remember as you get older i was the oldest model in south africa then the oldest model in canada then the oldest model in san francisco and then actually in new york there were models my age you know how do you think that was as i was getting older they weren't accepting them but then they would say what about you yeah i don't know i was whatever it is i'm happy let's go back because you told me you were a plus size model before yes well when i was uh after my divorce then i met this guy and then he just wanted to marry me the first day he met me and um yes it was wonderful for six weeks and then he then he became very busy but he wanted to be married to me still and then um yeah he got her another model pregnant and they moved in next door to me and so i was i was engaged to him he had a surprise engagement party after i refused to see him so then i took my engagement ring off and then and i ate my way through that one ah yeah yeah i loved it but you picked up the weight which is what women do right maybe well i just thought washington is sad yes and food makes you very happy especially when it's chocolate and ice cream and and burgers and fries and fried chicken and taste great i loved it at cookies i could do six cookies like before i take a breath but you still then you became a plus size mom it became fashionable wow isn't that crazy that is something i mean you just i mean my timing was good okay and yes not that you planned any of this i don't know so i stayed in bad situations too long because you think you can change people or change their attitudes and you can't and then you'll get very hurt and very sad and then you need to make a plan to get out of that and it might mean you're financially strapped you're scared you don't know what the future is going to hold but at the moment it's pretty horrible so you need to move move away from it so that's how you dealt with all the adversity how did you deal with with raising children sort of like a a co-parenting right what their father was in their lives is that correct yes elon went again lived with him at 10 okay because he had two encyclopedias and then he got a computer so that's something i could never afford so yeah so that was good and then it's about 13 kimball went was missing his brother so he went to go and live with him too and then i was i had them every week and i'd pick them up in friday afternoon and take them back sunday night and then tosca didn't want to live with them at all and uh and that was you know i tried to let her stay weekends there but then she'd call me crying and i would go and pick her up so but that's something to get used to as well that's not very easy to have to raise families you know the thing is i had a happy home the kids had a choice and we all have a happy home now you know yeah we love spending time together and we used to spend weekends together because then my twin sisters kids were their best friends oh that's wonderful have you what what would you say your kids have learned from you i think they saw me working all the time uh i would start at 7 30 in the morning getting them to school all right and then i would start seeing clients at eight in the morning and i would finish it maybe 7 30 at night if i wasn't teaching in the evenings because when i moved to toronto i taught nutrition to at a college two nights a week and then i taught modeling two nights a week because then i got a free office in the model agency to have my practice i could never afford to rent anything so you worked all of this out no it happened it just happens the model agency offers you a chance to have a free office if you model for them and teach in the evenings wow i mean it's better than rings no question that's pretty incredible yeah it almost i like when you said no it just happened because it almost sound like sounds like you had a plan for everything but things happened and you had to make a plan yes and then you also say well why don't i do this why not let me try this let me do that and then when we were in toronto i mean i would have to do manicures and pedicures from our kids and teenage boys you really don't want to do pedicures on them but the point is we couldn't afford it and i would cut their hair and i was saying to tosca luckily we didn't have mirrors they couldn't see the back of their head because i really wasn't good at that either but and we didn't go to movies and we didn't go out for dinner and it was fine we all got jobs as long as i had a roof over their head and food that was great this has certainly been a blueprint for this book which is what we want to emphasize like you have so much wisdom that you are imparting here but that you that you've learned i mean just being a woman and yes you have adversity you have the bad marriage you're raising the kids on your own for you you're traveling across the ocean to finally pick up roots and then start working again and going to school were there points where you thought you couldn't get out of bed or that you just couldn't continue no no i i woke up ready to go every morning because i was determined to succeed wow i mean i had no choice so i didn't have time to think about oh you know i'm really feeling sad today i had no time for that i had to get up and go thank you for moving yeah and and actually my kids used to say you never sleep because i could always hear them if they when they were little kids they could i could hear them when they came to the video and i knew from their footsteps who they were so they thought i never slept but actually i sleep well did you always have you modeled at 15 probably because you were so gorgeous how you looked your height but did you always feel that you know you had the grace or the movement to carry it off i know you did other things as well but we ended up back to you modeling in such a huge way now i'm a supermodel at 69 i became a supermodel so you know keep in there keep going 69 you because that's when i got the big covergirl con contract wasn't that a beauty contract of 69 i mean it's every model's dream to have a huge beauty contract and i've done beauty jobs before but never with your name attached and never as huge as this one why do you think it was that number 69 do you think that they'd finally recognize and when i say they people in the industry well it's time to really recognize strong attractive mature women i think what they're aiming for is the market the market shows that women my age you know 60s and 70s we like to look good and why not you think they feel obviously this is important for the world to see for other women to see because you're such an example i know um well i i think they just took a chance and that's what happened and look at you yeah i feel great i'm really i'm here i mean i know and i love in your book you talk about how you eat and how to eat healthy yes but you don't necessarily deny yourself yesterday it was tosca's twins seventh birthday party i over ate on the cake it was so delicious so the old habits come back over ate on the cake so for dinner last night i had water you know why i was still full from the cake it was the best cake ever so you felt like you didn't need to overeat yeah i might have had an apple if i wanted to but i wasn't hungry because i'd overdone the cake and um and you suffer for that that's i'm used to and now i eat perfectly again this week i was going to say because you always you seem to correct yourself i correct myself in the past it was harder now i've suffered so much by not correcting myself right away that i don't want to go through that overeating and then you'd gain five pounds so luck in a week that's very yeah and then your clothes are too tight and that's an unhappy feeling yes and then you buy new clothes that means spending more money and then you get episodes and it's not always as pretty as you want may what do you want younger women to take from your life even from this interview and and from the book yes i want young women to to read my book and see that i made mistakes and then are suffered and may they suffer less and get out of the mistakes they make because you don't really know you're making a mistake and then you get into a horrible situation and you can't get out of it you think you can't but then you make a plan and you need to get out of it and move on even if you are financially strapped and even if you are scared you need to move on and for you in terms of of aging it's something that i think you told me when i first met you that you embrace it well it sounds like i'm embracing it i'm not giving it much thought i'm having the best time ever and then somebody was interviewed and said that 82 is considered the happiest year and i'm looking forward to that and then my mom said her 90s were her happiest so i've got a lot ahead of me so your mom was lived to 98 is that 90 yeah yeah and she was happy she discovered really her life after 60 is that right yes after my father died we just we didn't know she would survive because she just supported him the whole time she was a ballroom dancing teacher that's how she met him and a ballet dancing teacher and a drama teacher and then she started taking art classes and photography classes and so she won awards as a photographer and you've seen the photos from the kalahari desert they're beautiful yes and it's just because she was good at that but to do that after 60 years after 60. and then she was in the who's who book of artists because she was exhibiting all the time so you have all of those examples actually i mean when it comes to music and art culture now you do you did say something in the book about when you really embraced ageism your hair yes well what happens is that i was at this model agency who was keeping me out of the market and that happens with actors a lot but not so much with models but they did and then i said well then doesn't matter why am i coloring my hair every month to keep the roots blonde so then i let it grow out and cut it very short and edgy because i wasn't working and the agency said nobody will ever book you again and so then i had photos taken a test shoot and they were stunning photos with this short edgy hair again nobody will they wouldn't even put on the website they they were so upset and then i went and sat there i said you haven't seen me out for six months i want to see the senior person and i said i'm out of here and you're to let me out of the contract and they did and i went to that move yes i just sat in the in the lobby uh in the front at the at the front reception office i wasn't going to move until they let me out of my contract they did because i had nothing to lose then i went to a small agency within three months i had a billboard in times square a billboard in management square gardens i flew to montreal for a cover i did my first editorial i mean suddenly i was this hot white egg woman and um and everybody was saying they'd been trying to book me for years really yeah and i was never available that's what it was yeah you were busy it's not not like you didn't want to they weren't after you you were busy yeah i was not available gosh that's what they were told all the time well bae what's next what's next is that i mean the world's the limit you know i've just come back from milan fashion week yeah working in the highest hills i've ever walked in and some of the younger models actually took their heels off because they were 150 models took their heels off and just carried them but you walked in yours i didn't know i had the option to take them off and i walked in those and i got a fashion award and now i'm going to canada for a fashion award so you you plan to keep going and doing um i'll go wherever everything takes me you know i have all these agents and they're booking me and they're getting me great jobs oh wait a minute let's not leave this out you're wearing a beyonce video correct yes yes was that fun that was the most magnificent outfit a 30-foot long train behind me this fabulous dress b uckeland she does the most amazing styling and she it was the largest room i've ever seen with wardrobe and the heels were 12 inches high and the platform was six inches and they had two men had to prop me up on my heels so all i could do was use my arms because if i've tried anything else i would have fallen off my heels oh my goodness yeah christmas that's horrible stick but i listened to you i said hard work and you said fantastic and the photos are fantastic but see this seems like how you look at life you know where someone else may say something is difficult you look at it as no it's a it's another journey or it's another challenge it's something and it's a privilege it's a privilege to be a model at any age but certainly in my 70s you're going to see it's really going to get better that is so wonderful out of the younger models they must be in awe they love me of course they love me you know they can only take so many selfies with me because i can't do selfies with 150 models just i just give them so much hope they say i love just your personality and how approachable you are and how down to earth you are yeah i think um nothing you don't really change you know that's why when elon kimball and tosca on separate days said to me you're writing a book you talk about your struggles and how you survived and that's what's in my book and struggling does make you humble and there could be still more times that i'll be humbled but less humble because i've been humbled so many times i'll be i love it and you talk about your vacations you go on vacations with your family and this is something that you enjoy with all of you together there could be 40 in one setting yes and you're happy with that we love it i have to say we're still all on our our laptops but they say okay for the meals we're all together and of course my grandchildren love my grandchildren love playing together oh that's so sweet really sweet one more thing this is los angeles yes the entertainment industry is so big and it's generally who you are how many people know you what you're driving how do you define success may if you were to talk to people and let's say we are now what's your definition of success being on your show oh that is so nice really so i would have to be successful to be on your show but would you say it's it's how the person how you feel about your life or well i just think i'm open to so many opportunities and i think there's going to be so many more ahead of me and increasing my instagram followers yeah you have what how many do you have a quarter of a million now or nearly three hundred thousand oh please i know over a quarter of them i know you're an influencer in the best of ways so for those of you who had any more questions you really need to read this book because it's all there and look at you you've lived a wonderful life and you've just gone through many many challenges that as you say some could be worse for some women some women would never go through this but you have really set an example or raised the bar i have a chapter saying i prefer people to be interesting than beautiful if you think i'm not pretty enough to be a model just become an expert in whatever you you love and share it with people so it's not about me me i'm not so pretty it's more about what can you share with other people to make them feel good that's being successful that's that's being successful yes makes you feel good well it's been a pleasure thank you miss mama okay you

Channel: CBS Los Angeles

Views: 217,521

Rating: 4.8785048 out of 5

Keywords: CBS 2 News Morning, Maye Musk, Elon Musk

Id: nGQB6b1G940

Length: 30min 30sec (1830 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 25 2020