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‘Girls Trip’ Star, 46, Stars on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

“I can be a swimsuit model and be over 30.”

Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

PublishedMay 12, 2026, 5:22 PM EDT

UpdatedMay 12, 2026, 5:22 PM EDT

Updated May 12, 2026, 5:22 PM EDTPublished May 12, 2026, 5:22 PM EDT

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Comedian Tiffany Haddish, 46, opened up about how posing for the coveted cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue affected her relationship with her body.

On May 12, the magazine debuted the latest cover of its long-running annual issue: a sunny portrait of the Girls Trip actress in a two-toned orange-and-yellow bikini, taken by photographer James Macari in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

In alternate covers of the Swimsuit issue, Sports Illustrated featured Hot Mess podcast host Alix Earle and Canadian model Nicole Williams English.

Haddish explained that the experience changed how she viewed her appearance, telling People that it “really got me in tune with listening to my body and being able to push it like I used to,” she told People.

“When I used to do track and field, I thought I would be on the cover because I would be the most highest jumper of all time,” she said. After high school, however, the Los Angeles native pursued a career in comedy and left behind her athletic aspirations.

Her past experiences are one of the reasons she agreed to pose for the Swimsuit issue.

“When I was in foster care and was getting moved around a lot, all of my things were in trash bags—it made me feel like garbage,” she said in her cover story interview. “I’ll never forget the day I got a suitcase because it changed how I felt about myself. At that moment, I promised myself that if I ever got any kind of power, I’d make sure no kid felt like garbage.”

In 2019, during her stand-up special, Black Mitzvah, she tore the menisci in both of her knees.

While healing from the injury, Haddish gained weight, leading her to seek help from celebrated track and field Olympic gold medalist Al Joyner, 66.

“He said he could help me heal my knees and get me back into shape,” she told People. “And as I was getting back into shape, I had put in the back of my mind that I’m a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model.”

​The recovery process, combined with the modeling opportunity, reignited a positive relationship with her body.

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Stepping into the role of a model felt natural to the performer. “It made me so proud of me, because my body popped into alignment and did everything it was instructed to do,” she says.

​Haddish’s desire for the cover is to spark other women’s confidence in their own bodies.

“I hope that they take away that you can transform, that we’re constantly transforming, and that you can be and look like whatever you want,” she told People.

Still, the shoot was not without (minor) incident. “There was a few times I scraped my knee on the lava rocks and I was bleeding,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Modeling is a lot harder than I thought it was.’”

The Grammy winner also admitted to feeling nervous about the beachside photos being “inappropriate,” and recalled worrying that the ocean’s crashing waves might sweep away the already revealing ensemble.

“The first thing I thought was, I have to make sure my cuckoo doesn’t come out,” Haddish said in her Sports Illustrated interview. “Those bathing suits were itty bitty and I just was thinking, My booty is going to eat this up. I wanted to keep it classy.”

Her butt wasn’t the only concern: Haddish later told People, “Oh, you know what else like to pop out? My nipples. My nipples wanted to be in the photo shoot so bad. We were having a hard time keeping those in.”

​Despite her fears, Haddish told the outlet, “I’m amazing. I am the example of how to be better, how to grow. These are the things I was telling myself during the shoot.”

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Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

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