Martha Stewart would have done Sports Illustrated cover half her lifetime ago: 'They never asked'

Martha Stewart has just one tongue-in-cheek question for Sports Illustrated: what took you so long?

The lifestyle mogul made history earlier this year when, at 81, she became the oldest model to ever grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

The stunning cover may have been her highest-profile thirst trap to date — but as Stewart, now 82, playfully reminded her fans during a visit to “The Kelly Clarkson Show” this week, she’s been bringing her A-game for decades now.

“Why now?” Clarkson asked Stewart, referring to the timing of her Sports Illustrated cover.

“I wonder. They never asked me before,” Stewart replied with a wry smile. “I would’ve done it when I was 40. I looked great at 40.”

Stewart opened up about her historic cover shoot during an interview with TODAY.com in May.

“What I hope I exude is ‘appealing,’” Stewart said.

“Because it says there might be some physical defects in terms of the ‘ideal’ woman, but I have nice legs, I have a good body, I have good skin,” she added. “I might be a little fat here and there, but who cares? It looks good altogether, the package is good.”

In her recent visit to Kelly Clarkson’s talk show, Stewart shared how inspired she feels by her late mother’s approach to aging. Her mom, Martha Kostyra, who was a familiar presence on "Martha Stewart Living", died in 2007.

“Mom was great. Mom was beautiful and with it and totally alert and intelligent. And she raised six kids, and she was great until the day she passed away at 93,” Stewart said. “She was never sick. She was fantastic, she was swimming every day. She was an amazing woman. Very, very good role model.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com