SI Swimsuit: Kate Upton Being Called Fat By A Blogger Triggered 'Body Positivity' Pivot
All it took was one female blogger and a female Victoria's Secret stylist to imply Kate Upton was fat in 2012 to cause a seismic shift in editorial direction for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Now, instead of getting an Elle MacPherson-like swimsuit model sprawled out on a Croatian beach with sand in her hair on the cover of the iconic magazine, you get plus-sized model Hunter McGrady and Yumi Nu.
Guys, this magazine isn't about you anymore. The days of racing to your mailbox to see which island shore Kathy Ireland washed up on are over. The years of wondering which eastern European swimsuit model was going to steal your heart are history. The days of the SI swimsuit edition being produced for men are long gone.
It's now a personal grudge –– between women –– and it goes back to Kate Upton making her SI cover debut in 2012.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Kate Upton attends the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue launch party in New York City. (Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)
On Tuesday, the SI Swimsuit Instagram team revealed the 2024 60th anniversary covers, including one featuring Upton, 31, with a message crediting her with the movement by SI to feature body-positive women like McGrady and Yu.
"One of the most iconic models in SI Swimsuit history is Kate Upton who’s first cover in 2012 stirred controversy," the SI team wrote on Instagram.
"Despite her undeniable beauty, and the fact that putting her on the front of the magazine was a no-brainer, the unexpected backlash over her body type prompted the brand to reevaluate who should be featured on future covers. It feels fitting to have the catalyst for so much change back in a publication that now celebrates women from all walks of life, like a homecoming. It’s a full-circle moment."
What's this "backlash" and who caused it? Let's investigate!
Disclosure: I was a full-time, very nicely paid blogger in 2012 producing the same content you see today. Red-blooded American male content. I was laser focused on entertaining men who hated their jobs and were on the verge of divorces navigate their way through life.
I didn't know there was any such controversy over women claiming Kate Upton was fat, but it happened in two documented cases, according to Google Search records.
- A FEMALE blogger at some site called Skinny Gossip (there's some chatter that it's a site that celebrates women being very skinny, hence the site name) who went after Upton for not being rail thin. 8,000 mainstream news outlets ran with that one blogger's comments and turned it into an ordeal that SI editors have never forgotten.
- Then there was Victoria's Secret stylist Sophie Neophitou, who was quoted as saying, "We would never use [Upton]. She's like a Page 3 girl," she told the New York Times. "She's like a footballer's wife, with the too-blonde hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy."
Kate Upton walks the runway at a Beach Bunny Swimwear show in 2011. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz)
Since that moment in 2012, SI Swimsuit editors have included Kate Upton on the cover (deservedly so) three more times, body positive model Ashley Graham, a curvy Tyra Banks, Megan Thee Stallion, Yumi Nu, Kim Kardashian, two TransGs, Martha Stewart, Elon Musk's mom and this year 69-year-old Gayle King.
There you have it. The next time someone at the job site or around the water cooler asks what the hell happened to the SI swimsuit edition, point to this research.
2012 was when it all changed.