Elle Macpherson just did something she's never done before: She posed for a fashion photo shoot with her two gorgeous sons, Flynn and Cy Busson.
The Australian supermodel decided to do it to mark some big birthdays. "The boys are coming of age, and [my health and wellness brand] WelleCo is turning 5, and I'm 55, so it's sort of this seminal moment in our lives," she told Vogue Australia for the magazine's August 2019 cover story. (Flynn just turned 21, and Cy just turned 16). "Vogue is an iconic brand, and we knew we'd be treated with respect. We've been asked for years."
Elle shared a slideshow of photos of her gorgeous boys on Instagram, and they both posted images from the shoot on their own social media accounts too.
But Elle and her sons' father — financier Arpad Busson, 56, from whom she split in 2005 (he went on to have a daughter with now-ex Uma Thurman) — always turned magazines down. "We kept the children out of the public eye. It was a decision that their dad and I made. We didn't think it necessary for them to be recognizable in public. Of course you can't stop paparazzi." Or, Elle adds, social media. "Now, with Instagram, the boys are public and they make their own choices."
While Cy is still a teen, Flynn now attends college in Boston where he's studying finance and real estate. He's also a pilot: According to Vogue Australia, he learned to fly at 16, earned his private license at 18 then went on to get his commercial license.
Flynn gushed about his mother — who long ago was nicknamed "The Body" — to Vogue Australia. "She is the best mother in the world, and I know everyone always says about their mum, but it really is true," he said.
"My mother has always been so incredibly devoted to me and my brother," Flynn added. "It has shone through everything from the way she chooses her jobs to the way she cooks dinner. I always knew we were her No. 1 priority, and I think that it's a very … I don't want to say it's a unique situation, but just from the conversations I've had with friends, I know that she's special, in the way she prioritizes us. Mum was always there picking me up from school. And even now, the stuff she does, even if it's literally just, 'You look tired. Drink more water.'"
Little brother Cy — who sometimes posts pics with his mom on Instagram — quipped, "[Or] drink more green juice.'" Added Flynn, "As much as, you know, that's annoying, it does show the level of devotion, right? But seriously, even when things haven't been easy, she put us first. I look up to her. My mother is a perfectionist, I don't think that's a secret. It's one of her greatest qualities, everything she does has to be up to scratch."