Martha Stewart becomes the oldest Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit cover model at the age of 81

Martha Stewart has become Sports Illustrated’s oldest cover model ever, posturing for the magazine’s yearly bathing suit release at 81 years old.

The TV character and cook is one of four cover models during the current year’s issue, which means to celebrate powerful women who “live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally”. Brooks Nader, a model, actor Megan Fox, and musician Kim Petras were the other models.

“When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought: ‘Oh, well that’s pretty good.’ I’m gonna be the oldest person, I think, ever on the cover of Sports Illustrated,’” Stewart said in an interview about the cover.

“And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good.”

Stewart, who was captured in the Dominican Republic by Ruven Afanador, asked Sneak Homey, a companion and continuous partner, would think about her cover. She said with a grin, ” Snoop is going to just think that it is fantastic.”

She now surpasses Elon Musk’s mother, the model Maye Musk, who posed for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue in 2022 at the age of 74, thanks to Stewart’s cover shoot.

“My motto has always been: ‘when you’re through changing, you’re through,’ so I thought, why not be up for this opportunity of a lifetime?” Stewart wrote on Instagram. “I hope this cover inspires you to challenge yourself to try new things, no matter what stage of life you are in.”

Sports Illustrated called Stewart the “OG of influencers” in the 1980s, when she started writing cookbooks and appearing on television following her success as a chef. Stewart has since published 99 books, hosted a number of cooking shows, established her own lifestyle magazine, and produced her own clothing, cooking, and home goods lines.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s editor-in-chief MJ Day said of Stewart, “Never in her life has she let her circumstances dictate her outcome.” “She’s changed with the times – always one step ahead, it seems – to build a wide-reaching business empire.”

After model Leyna Bloom, who became the first trans person of color to ever appear in Sports Illustrated in 2021, Petras is the second trans woman to appear on the swimsuit cover of the magazine.

“No matter what your gender or sexuality or any of that stuff is, it’s about what you make of life,” Petras said, in a video about her cover shoot. “It’s about what’s inside of you.”