When it comes to slaying for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, Kate Upton’s got it covered.
“It never gets old,” said the 31-year-old model after getting first looks at her fourth solo SI Swimsuit cover on CBS Mornings Tuesday.
Upton, whose doe-eyed gaze and contoured curves earned her “Rookie of the Year” honors in 2011, reclaimed her front page superiority with the mag in May. She’d previously graced its cover in 2012, 2013, 2014 — a flip cover feature — and 2017.
For her spring 2024 resurgence, a comeback made in celebration of SI Swimsuit’s 60th anniversary, Upton cut an hourglass figure in a red-and-pink ruffled and pinstripe bikini.
The two-piece, from Turkish fashion house, Normaillot, framed her sculpted abs.
Whips of the bombshell’s blond locks danced around her face as photographer Yu Tsai captured the top shot in Mexico.
Upton applauded SI Swimsuit’s editor-in-chief, MJ Day, for spotlighting sirens of all shapes, ages and skin tones.
“It’s about being confident in our bodies no matter what you look like,” said Upton on CBS. “When this magazine first came around, [the fashion industry wanted to] put everyone in a box.”
“MJ really took this magazine and made it empowering for all women.”
Day, who’s helmed the glossy zine since 2014, tapped Upton, as well as SI Swimsuit icons Hunter McGrady, 31, Chrissy Teigen, 38, and newcomer Gayle King, 69, to shine as this year’s cover eye-candy.
Each of the pinups was granted individual frontispiece features for the pub’s epic anniversary edition.
The 2024 SI Swimsuit rollout also includes three additional collectible covers, highlighting 27 of its lionized luminaries such as Christie Brinkley, Tyra Banks and Paulina Porizkova.
Brinkley, 70, became the first fox to score on three consecutive SI Swimsuit covers between 1979, 1980 and 1981.
Banks, 50, made history as the first African American model to rock the cover of the page-turner in 1996.
And in 1983, Porizkova, 59, earned bragging rights at the first Central European woman to appear on the front of the magazine.
Lifestyle mogul, Martha Stewart, 81, wowed alongside with the veteran vixens — which also included Lily Aldridge and Molly Sims — for the special cover shoot. In 2023 the haute homemaker became the oldest darling to beam as the mag’s leading artwork.
“We assembled some of our most influential alumni together for one legendary photo shoot,” Day told SI Swimsuit. “Sure, it looks back on history.”
“But more significantly, it’s a window into the present — where we are right now — and a hope for the future.”
