Martha Stewart just made history—and looked stellar doing it! The 81-year-old lifestyle businesswoman is the oldest swimsuit model that has ever graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Martha was among the cover models for the 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She wore multiple sultry swimsuit looks for the magazine, including a dangerously low-cut white one-piece.
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Martha Stewart Glows In A Plunging White Swimsuit For The Cover Of ‘Sports Illustrated’
Martha posed in the Dominican Republic for the shoot and appears in a total of ten looks. The cover of Sports Illustrated shows the television personality smiling with her herringbone-highlighted hair blown out. She paired a white swimsuit from Monday Swimsear with a billowy orange-golden coverup by Torso Creations. As for accessories, Martha opted for a chunky ring from Jacob & Co. that matched her chic coverup.
Another image from the campaign shows her emerging from the water wearing giant sunglasses and making a kissing face at the camera in a metallic swimsuit from Body Glove. She accessorized with a silver chain necklace from Cicada Jewelry. In other photos from the shoot, Martha is showing off her insane body in three plunging one-pieces in red, black, and metallic gold. Martha can also be seen lounging on the beach, walking with horses galloping behind her, and splayed out in a cabana with a martini cocktail in one hand.
In every image, Martha is clearly content and has fun posing for the cover. It seems the grandmother of two hasn’t forgotten anything from her early career in modeling. Martha started modeling at the age of 15 before she worked as a Wall Street stockbroker and later started a catering business. The other three cover models are Megan Fox, Kim Petras, and Brooks Nader—but, at 81 years old, Martha has become the oldest cover model in SI history.
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“I like that picture,” she said of her cover shoot on The Today Show. “I’m sort of shaking because it’s odd to go to an island and then get changed into nine different bathing suits in one day in front of all those people…it turned out OK.” Martha told the co-anchors that the idea was proposed to her in November 2022 and that by the end of January, she had to be ready to pose.
“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,'” Martha said, adding, “And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic.”
“For me, it is a testament to good living, and I think that all of us should think about good living, successful living, and not about aging,” she said. “The whole aging thing is so boring.” Padma Lakshmi, who is 51 years old and also appeared in this year’s SI Swimsuit Issue, echoed Martha’s opinions about aging.
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Fan Comments
Sports Illustrated captioned their Instagram post about Martha’s cover, “As a best-selling author and entrepreneur, #MarthaStewart has built an empire that we can’t help but admire and she’s continuing to make her mark as one of this year’s #SISwim23 cover models. See Martha like never before at the link in our bio.”
And, Martha captioned her post, “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.”
Martha’s fans quickly expressed their adoration for the sultry cover photo. “This might be the only issue of sports illustrated that I ever purchase,” one fan quipped, while another raved, “Congratulations queen! You continue to school us all in what it means …and what it takes to be extraordinary!” and another commented, “Martha leave some men for the rest of us.”
One fan wondered, “When you legit PEAK at 81… like HOW?!” and a fifth wrote, “Uh…look around. There’s a new version of ladies in their 80s who do look this fine, and who is anyone to condemn them? We are allowed to embellish what we choose to, be it our homes or bodies. We are living longer and get to look like we want.”
