Martha Stewart: 81 year old becomes Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's oldest cover model

At 81 years old, Martha Stewart has become the oldest model on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. She has said that she hopes her appearance on the cover will inspire people to try new things “no matter what stage of life you are in”.

The US businesswoman and TV personality said the experience had been the “opportunity of a lifetime”.

Stewart is to star on the cover of the 2023 edition with an accompanying interview by award-winning writer Ryan Murphy, known best for shows like the Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Watcher and American Horror Story. 

What has she said about the cover?

Sharing a picture of her cover to Instagram, Stewart said: “I am so thrilled to be on the cover of the @SI_Swimsuit issue! 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? I hope this cover inspires you to challenge yourself to try new things, no matter what stage of life you are in. Changing, evolving and being fearless – those are all very good things indeed.

“When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good, I’m going to be the oldest person I think ever on a cover of Sports Illustrated’,” she told the magazine. And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic.”

In another post on Instagram, it’s explained that Stewart was approached by Sports Illustrated in November 2022, which gave her three months to prepare for the photo shoot at the end of January earlier this year. 

In his article, Murphy said Stewart was “a lesson in ageless living”.

“Her secret, I think, is that we all kind of want to be her — optimistic, daring, adventurous, capable of turning the most mundane into exuberance,” he wrote.

“She is disciplined. She is curious and demands new experiences for herself. She is an everywoman, with a tinge of snob. Her manners are impeccable, and her laugh is infectious. More than that, she has survived everything — scandals, men, changing culture, a pandemic, middle age — and has come out of the other side with her humour intact and our horizons broadened.

“Martha Stewart is kind, she is hilarious, and she’s taught me a lot. More than anything, she is a lesson in ageless living.”

The 2023 edition of Sports Illustrated featuring Stewart will be available from May 18. The 2023 Swimsuit issue also offers three other covers - one with Megan Fox, another with Brooks Nader and a third with Kim Petras. Petras is the second transgender woman to appear on the magazine’s cover, following model and actress Leyna Bloom in 2021. 

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day said that there’s “no theme” for this year's issue.

“Rther, there is a vision, a sentiment, a hope that women can live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally,” Day said. “But the absence of a theme is not to say that [these women] don’t share certain common traits. They’re constantly evolving.” 

Of Stewart specifically, Day said: “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.”