Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue won’t hit newsstands until Thursday, but multiple media outlets provided sneak peeks Monday at the three stars slated to grace three separate covers.
The 2021 cover models include model and activist Leyna Bloom, tennis champion Naomi Osaka and rapper Megan Thee Stallion, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Bloom, the magazine’s first transgender cover model and the first transgender model of color to appear anywhere among its pages, embodies the issue’s 2021 theme, “Opening Eyes, Speaking Truths and Changing Minds” and proves “the more diverse and inclusive a community, the stronger it becomes,” SI Editor-in-Chief MJ Day stated in a news release.
This moment heals a lot of pain in the world. We deserve this moment; we have waited millions of years to show up as survivors and be seen as full humans filled with wonder. @SI_Swimsuit #SI2021 pic.twitter.com/ArvYsG1IS2
— Leyna Bloom (@leynabloom) July 19, 2021
Bloom appears in a plunging white one-piece, while Osaka sports a black asymmetrical one-piece and Megan Thee Stallion dons a nude bikini with cutouts and a metallic bangle, Today reported.
Naomi Osaka Lands S.I. Swim Cover, Transgender Model Gets Honor Too https://t.co/TqblW2gvKa
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 19, 2021
Day applauded Osaka’s “passion, strength and power geared toward consistently breaking barriers when it comes to equality, social justice and mental health.” The phenom’s mental health and self-care advocacy grabbed national headlines recently after she withdrew from the French Open and sat out Wimbledon, the outlet reported.
Meanwhile, Day also called Megan Thee Stallion a “magnetic powerhouse taking the world by storm.”
MEGAN THEE STALLION HAS ARRIVED. @theestallion https://t.co/r4wc0rrN8w pic.twitter.com/Dq5wU0ZGxJ
— Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) July 19, 2021
“If there’s one thing that our cover models have in common, it’s that they don’t have one thing in common,” Day stated in the news release, adding, “They look different, have different upbringings, have different passions and inspirations. But each is a reminder that beauty comes in many forms.”
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2021 also features actress and social media personality Olivia Culpo, singer-songwriter Tinashe and YouTuber and makeup artist Nyma Tang, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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