Josephine Skriver’s Message to Young Girls

Three-time SI Swimsuit model Josephine Skriver has a message for young girls everywhere. “Loving yourself is always going to be a journey. It’s a never-ending journey,” she says. “For me, it’s a conscious decision in the morning; it’s a conscious decision to be happy. It’s a conscious decision to go in and talk to my mirror and be like, ‘Hey, you’re good enough! You got this!’ ”

Unfortunately, we all feel the immense pressure to appear perfect on social media and Skriver is no different. “When social media blew up, the world had its perfect image of me because the days you post are the good days—you post when you feel the best,” she says. “It slowly creates this idea that you look like this 24/7. I did not wake up like this.” While Beyonce (or maybe just the image of her) most definitely did indeed ‘wake up like this’, the rest of us have to learn to accept our insecurities.

While social media can definitely exacerbate insecurities, most of us have them long before we spend that time online. Skriver specifically had her own insecurities due to things she was teased about as a kid. “I’d always been called a giraffe or stork. I’m long and lanky so I think that was my first insecurity. I think like any girl, if you’re the last one to hit puberty, the last one to get boobs - that was a personal insecurity.”

While Skriver continues to work daily on loving herself, she wants young girls everywhere to join her. “If you don’t like something about yourself, work on changing it or learn to love it. Don’t try and change things you can’t change but love it instead. Surround yourself with girls who will lift you up because I think it’s so important that we don’t try to compare ourselves to each other.”

Skriver will be back for the 2022 issue. Get a sneak peek of her 2022 photo shoot here.