When the word influencer did not even exist, Martha Stewart was already practicing as such. Businesswoman, writer, television presenter, she became the queen of American housewives at the end of the last century. She was a prescriber of trends, both in the kitchen, as in decoration, gardening, in short, a lifestyle guru. Now, at 81, she is once again setting a milestone. She has become the oldest woman to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

The businesswoman has been chosen as one of four models to appear on the cover of the prestigious magazine’s annual swimsuit issue, which goes on sale May 18, along with Megan Fox, 37, Brooks Nader , 27, and Kim Petras, 30, who is the second transgender woman to grace the cover of the publication. “Trying new things is great. Being fearless is great. Don’t be afraid of anything,” Stewart shouts from the rooftops. In a tweet, Sports Illustrated has referred to this cover as “epic.” “When we said this year was going to be epic, we meant it,” the publication tweeted.

“When I found out I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, I thought, ‘Oh, this is pretty cool, I’m going to be the oldest person to ever be on a Sports Illustrated cover,'” he revealed. “And it’s not that I think about age much, but I thought this was going to be something historical and that I better look really good.” The author of dozens of cookbooks says that she agreed to participate because she wanted to show that age does not matter in matters such as “friendship or in terms of success.” And she assures that the important thing is “what people do, how people think, how people act”.

Martha tells on her Instagram profile along with three of the photos for the special issue that they proposed it to her in November 2022, so she only had three months to prepare for filming, which took place at the end of January. During that time, as she told the Today program, she went to Pilates every other day and stopped eating bread and pasta for a “couple of months.”

Although she has made it clear that her greatest motivation for being part of a cover like this is financial, on this occasion it has weighed a lot to become an inspiration for other women: “On this occasion, what motivated me was to show people that a A woman my age can still look good, be good.”

For the photo shoot, she traveled to the Dominican Republic, where Ruven Afanador photographed her in up to 10 different swimsuit looks. Martha has joked that she is more than she normally uses for a week. For the cover, she rocks a white one and an orange jacket. Stewart has also revealed that there are “no tricks” in the photos.

On her Instagram profile, the queen of American lifestyle has written: “My motto has always been: when you’re done changing, you’re done’… So I thought, why aren’t you ready for this opportunity in life? ? I hope this cover inspires you to challenge yourself to try new things, no matter where you are in life. Change, evolve and be brave. All of those things are very good indeed.”

Stewart’s career began at the age of 15 as an advertising model in magazines and television to pay for her university studies in architecture. In 1961 she married Andrew Stewart, whom she divorced in 1990 and took her surname, and four years later her only daughter, Alexis, was born. She worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street, a job she left to create her own catering company in 1973 from the kitchen of her home. In 1996 she aired her first television show, Martha Stewart Living, with which she proclaimed herself queen of a lifestyle that every housewife wanted to imitate. From there she built a lifestyle empire with books, product lines, programs and advertising that made her a millionaire.

In 2004, she was sentenced to prison for obstruction of justice and for having used privileged information in the sale of shares of a biotechnology company. After being released from prison in March 2005, she dedicated herself to reclaiming her media and business empire. She focused on the bridal industry and launched Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, which is currently valued at $252 million. Currently, she Martha Stewart owns a 62-hectare farm in Bedfor, one of the most exclusive locations in the United States. In addition, she has four other properties in East Hampton, Seal Harbour, Turky Hill and Manhattan.

Her court case served as the inspiration for the character of Judy King in the third season of the series Orange Is the New Black, a famous cook and television star who was sent to prison for tax evasion.