Martha Stewart and Megan Fox Grace the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Covers
This year's edition shines a light on the struggles women face when it comes to societal pressure around appearance and beauty standards.
The 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is out, and this year's edition shines a light on the struggles women face when it comes to societal pressure around appearance and beauty standards.
The issue features four different cover stars: lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart, actor Megan Fox, model Brooks Nader, and singer Kim Petras. At 81 years old, Stewart is the oldest person to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
“When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought, 'Oh, that's pretty good, I'm going to be the oldest person I think ever on a cover of Sports Illustrated,'” Stewart told Sports Illustrated. “And I don't think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic.”
The announcement of Stewart as a cover star has prompted praise and renewed conversations about aging, especially in an industry that prioritizes youthfulness.
“My motto has always been: 'when you’re through changing, you’re through,’ so I thought, why not be up for this opportunity of a lifetime?” Stewart wrote in an Instagram post. “I hope this cover inspires you to challenge yourself to try new things, no matter what stage of life you are in. Changing, evolving, and being fearless - those are all very good things, indeed.”
In her interview with Sports Illustrated, Megan Fox spoke about how she has never been happy with the way she looks and struggles with body dysmorphia. “I don’t ever see myself the way other people see me,” she said. “There’s never a point in my life where I loved my body. Never ever.”
“When I was little, like, that was an obsession I had — of, like, 'But I should look this way,'” Fox said. “And why I had an awareness of my body that young, I’m not sure.”
Fox described her modeling for the cover as something that came with “a lot of pressure,” but added that it was also something she wanted the opportunity to do.
“The journey of, like, loving myself is gonna be never-ending,” she said.