Maye Musk Couldn't Pay Rent at 50. Now She's a Full-Time Model at 77.
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How did Maye Musk’s life change when she couldn’t pay rent at age 50?
I had to stop my practice just because Elon became so famous. People would book appointments with me, and then they'd bring gifts for him and want to talk about him for the hour because they paid for the hour. And I would say, take your money back and
take that gift. May is a model, a dietitian, an author, and mom to three very accomplished entrepreneurs, Kimball, Tosca, and Elon Musk. May started full-time modeling at an age where most people retire, and she argues that age is an asset Not a liability. She came on Money Rehab to talk about how she got out of a financially abusive relationship.
My ex-husband was earning a living as an engineer. He had signing rights on my bank account. When I got divorced, he removed my signing rights and then he took my money. And advice for raising ambitious kids. as children and as parents we didn't know what other people were doing because there was no social media and we didn't have to compare ourselves to anyone i think it's pretty tough now because you think oh they're doing better than me the lessons in her new memoir timeless like how to reframe aging to be empowering i've never been nervous about aging and my mother didn't either i never thought it was too late for me at any time and i still don't would you ever get married again i
I'm Nicole Lapton, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. May Musk, welcome to Money Rehab. Thank you. I'm excited for the interview. I'm excited to have you here. And I really want to dig into your new book, Timeless. It starts as a memoir at age 50, which is a wonderful lesson for women in particular who think that their peak is at 30. Yes,
well, I never thought of my peak at 30 at all. I was struggling then. Did you feel like your
life really began when you were 50? I
moved to New York then, and that's when I wanted to start all over. And I did. And it was fantastic.
Yeah.
Tell me more about what your life was like then, because in the book you talk about not being able to pay your rent. What did that feel like in your body?
I'd always been able to pay rent, and especially I was renting a one-bedroom apartment. I My practice wasn't taking off. The doctors were not used to a dietician being in private practice. So they weren't referring patients to me. And also, insurance doesn't cover dietetic counseling. So I was really struggling with that. And the modeling jobs were very small and far between. It was San Francisco. It's not a big modeling city. I just... really felt for the first time that I was struggling, that I couldn't make my rent. And it wasn't much. How much was it? Well, the one bedroom was $2,000. It was a furnished apartment. And the only reason they would rent it to me, because I didn't have a credit score in America, was because a woman had died in it.
Oh, my God. And so nobody wanted to rent this apartment. And it was fully furnished with this woman's taste. I didn't care. It was the only place that I could get. But then— You got
a deal on it because nobody wanted it. People got weird about that stuff. Yes. Yes. OK, so you're 50, not able to pay rent. Your memoir starts at that age. That's such an interesting metaphor for how to think about time and age.
Well, you know, I was always kind of struggling to survive, always having this pain in my stomach. You know, I didn't realize it until it slowly went away.
Well, let's back up for a second, because a lot of your financial problems at the time were really marriage problems.
Is that right? Yes. Well, when I was married, then I actually my mom had taught me how to balance bank statements. And so I did that for us. And then, but everything was in his name. My ex-husband was earning a living as an engineer and then it became better. He started earning better. And then at 28, you know, I think I put it in the book, my mother stopped him from beating me up. I could then go back to being a dietitian and having a practice because he couldn't stop me. And then I realized I could earn a living. And then the weirdest thing is that they needed Mother of the Bride in runway shows.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How did Maye Musk’s life change when she couldn’t pay rent at age 50?
0:00–8:18
2
What financial abuse did Maye experience in her first marriage and how did she escape it?
8:18–26:21
3
Why does Maye advise women to keep a separate bank account, even if it feels controversial?
26:21–36:22
4
How did Maye rebuild her career from scratch after moving to a new city with almost nothing?
36:22–37:09
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
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