Martha Stewart makes history as the oldest swimsuit model to grace Sports Illustrated‘s iconic Swimsuit issue.
The 81-year-old homemaker and lifestyle guru shared SI’s cover post on her Instagram page on Monday. She was approached by the magazine’s editor last November.
“Usually I’m motivated by pay but this time I was motivated by showing people that a woman my age can still look good, feel good, be good,” she said in a video on Sports Illustrated‘s swimsuit edition website.
“I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good,” she added.
“I hope this cover inspires you to challenge yourself to try new things, no matter what stage of life you are in,” she said to her followers.
Stewart found success as a chef and rose to fame in the 1980s when her cookbooks hit bestseller lists. She transitioned from cookbooks to television, where she found a larger audience. Sponsorships and cookware lines followed, and she eventually became a self-made billionaire.
But in 2004, Stewart was arrested and charged with insider trading. She was sentenced to five months in a federal prison.
