Brooks Nader Opens Up About Her Experience With Body Dysmorphia

The SI Swimsuit legend shared what eventually led her to embrace her own skin while on set in 2021.

Brooks Nader was photographed by Ben Watts in Hollywood, Fla. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Growing up in Baton Rouge, SI Swimsuit legend Brooks Nader recalls feeling uncomfortable in her own skin when she started developing earlier than many of her peers. In an on-set interview in 2021, the year she posed for the magazine in Hollywood, Fla., the 28-year-old opened up about her prior experience with body dysmorphia and what eventually led her to embrace her own skin.

“When I was younger, I had like body dysmorphia, like a lot of my friends were just toothpick skinny,” Nader stated. “I was the first to like grow into myself as a woman and at that age, that wasn’t like a cool thing, you know, when you’re like 12 and you have boobs. So at first it was like you start to question, am I O.K., am I normal, and that wasn’t in the era—not that it was that long ago—but body positivity and inclusivity like that wasn’t as big of a thing then.”

Eventually, Nader left her native Louisiana for the Big Apple, where she moved to pursue her full-time modeling career. In 2019, she auditioned for the Swim Search, and ended up being declared the winner of that year’s open casting call, following her photo shoot in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

“But then when I moved to New York and got into modeling, when I did work really hard and I thought I looked really good and I’d go to like a casting or go in to see my agents and they would like just make comments, like, ‘Oh, you look bigger.’ It can mess you up for like weeks, months, years.”

Her work with the SI Swimsuit brand, Nader recalled, allowed her to start really feeling comfortable in her own skin. “There’s nothing more sexy and amazing than getting to that point, which takes a really long time, of being like, ‘Oh my God, I love myself, I love my body,’” she added.

Nader has posed for the SI Swimsuit Issue each year since 2019, traveling to locations like Bali, Montenegro and the Dominican Republic with the brand. Last year, she landed the cover of the 2023 magazine, and this year, Nader was declared a brand legend. She posed for a solo feature in Mexico and was photographed for a group cover alongside 26 other brand legends in Hollywood, Fla.

Below, we’re throwing it back to a few of our favorite photographs of Nader from the 2021 SI Swimsuit Issue in Hollywood, Fla., captured by Ben Watts.

Brooks Nader was photographed by Ben Watts in Hollywood, Fla. Swimsuit by Christopher Esber. Bracelet by Cartier. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Brooks Nader was photographed by Ben Watts in Hollywood, Fla. Swimsuit by Devon Windsor. Bracelets by Cartier. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Brooks Nader was photographed by Ben Watts in Hollywood, Fla. Swimsuit by Gabriela Pires Beachwear. Earrings by Electric Picks. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Brooks Nader was photographed by Ben Watts in Hollywood, Fla. Swimsuit by NHall Resort Wear. Top by ARE YOU AM I. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated