Martha Stewart has been enjoying a new wave of fame as a thirst trap poster for a while now. I, for one, love it. Martha is 81 and never hides her age or the fact that she feels good about herself. To celebrate this, Sports Illustrated just gave her one of the covers for their 2023 Swimsuit Edition. Her spread is lovely, too. It was shot in the Dominican Republic, and I can’t stop staring at Martha or her settings. It seems her modeling days have stayed with her. Plus, they have her in some cute swimsuits. Of course, when a woman is given the honor of a magazine cover, especially one who fits outside the normal parameters the discussion turned to how’d she do it? Martha said she didn’t starve herself, but she did give up bread and pasta for a few months.
Chances are you’ve never seen Martha Stewart like this before!
The lifestyle guru and business maven is one of four stars posing on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s 2023 issue (others include Megan Fox, Kim Petras and Brooks Nader). And after debuting the cover exclusively on the Today show Monday morning, Stewart opened up to Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb about why she agreed to do the shoot and what she did to prepare.
“I’m sort of shaking because it’s odd to go to an island and get changed into nine different bathing suits in one day in front of all those people,” Stewart said, after seeing the cover for the first time. “I like that picture. … And it turned out okay!”
She went on to explain that she was first asked to do the cover in November 2022, just a few weeks before the photoshoot was scheduled at the end of January. “That was kind of a request that I’ve never had before,” Stewart recalled. “To be on the cover at my age was a challenge. And I think I met the challenge.”
To get ready, Stewart focused on good old-fashioned diet and exercise.
“I didn’t starve myself, but I didn’t eat any bread or pasta for a couple of months,” Stewart said. “I went to Pilates every other day and that was great; I’m still going to Pilates every other day ’cause it’s so great. And I just, I live a clean life anyway — good diet and good exercise and healthy skincare and all of that stuff.”
She told Guthrie, 51, and Kotb, 58, that she sees her appearance as “a testament for good living.”
“I think all of us should think about good living, successfully living, and not aging. The whole aging thing is so boring. You know what I mean?” Stewart said. “I have a hospital called the Center for Living at Mt. Sinai. I started this hospital with Mt. Sinai and it’s all about growing old gracefully. We don’t think about aging, we think about successful living and we try to install in people the desire to eat well, exercise well, have friends to have pets — to do all the things that make you happy as you get older. So that’s what I’m all about.”
Also helping her, she said, was her genes. “My mom was my role model,” said Stewart, pointing to a throwback photo she had posted of her mother for Mother’s Day. “After four kids, she was still wearing a two-piece bathing suit. And she still had two more after that and she was still wearing a two-piece bathing suit, so that’s pretty fabulous. My genes are good.”
I love what Martha said about successful living and that we need to stop focusing on aging as a bad thing. I had no idea she’d started her own center on this. Later in the interview they talk about how Martha’s father gave her her confidence and he always told her to “educate herself” as opposed to “get educated,” which I also love. Savannah Guthrie touched on Martha’s fearlessness like being on the cover of SI at the age of 81 and trying online dating. There were good points made.
I don’t, however, love that so much importance was associated with being traditionally slim. I’m sure Martha’s mom deserved to be a role model for much more than fitting into a bikini after four kids. Raising four kids without losing her mind is enough to be a role model. And not eating carbs for a few months isn’t sustainable. Obviously, because Martha only did it for a few months. That’s not ‘successfully living,’ that’s denying yourself so you can fit in a bathing suit. I’d prefer Martha spent more time talking about discovering Pilates. Pilates was invented for the purpose of rehabilitation so it’s actually a fantastic exercise for older folks. I don’t mind Martha’s idea that her appearance is “a testament for good living.” I just wish that was more about her generally vitality and not her weight.
Photo credit: Twitter, Instagram and Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency and Arlene Richie/JPI Studios/Avalon
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