Chrissy Teigen Invites SI Swimsuit Into Her Home, Full of Love and ‘Chaos’

The supermodel was photographed for the cover of the 2024 issue in her Los Angeles home, where she lives with her husband, John Legend, and their four children.

Chrissy Teigen on How SI Swimsuit Has Been By Her Side Through ‘Every Stage’ of Life /

In 2014, Chrissy Teigen landed her first SI Swimsuit cover. It was the brand’s 50th anniversary, and she posed alongside fellow franchise stars Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge in the Cook Islands. To say it was iconic would be an under statement.

Marking her return to the SI Swimsuit Issue for the first time since 2017, the 38-year-old model, mother and entrepreneur landed one of four individual covers of the 60th anniversary magazine, out now.

View Chrissy Teigen’s 2024 SI Swimsuit gallery here.

View Chrissy Teigen’s 2024 Legends gallery here.

Teigen’s SI Swimsuit journey

Teigen’s time with SI Swimsuit has spanned more than a decade, as she made her debut in 2010 with Walter Iooss Jr. in the Maldives and took home the Rookie of the Year title. From that moment on, the brand and the mom of four (who shares kids Luna, Miles, Esti and Wren with husband John Legend) have continued to grow together.

This year, Teigen returns to the fold 10 years older, four kids later, and a whole lot wiser. But, just as talented and radiant. She was photographed by Yu Tsai in Los Angeles, and instead of traveling to a new exotic location for her cover feature, she invited the SI Swimsuit team into her beautiful home.

From Teigen’s glam squad making last minute touch-ups to Legend preparing waffles in the kitchen and the happy noises of their children playing, the superstar couple’s household is full of love, light, music and joy—and Teigen wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chrissy Teigen was photographed by Yu Tsai in Los Angeles. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

“I can look back at different locations that we’ve shot at and know what I was going through then. And so to have this all end up here [with a cover feature for the 60th anniversary], it was really important for me … I wanted them to see my babies and my family and John. And I get to feel at home,” Teigen shares. “My world now has really changed and evolved so it’s cool to bring everyone into my home and see the chaos of it. [It’s just a typical day at my house] and I really wanted [editor in chief] MJ [Day] to be able to see how this life feels so different from what we’ve seen before.”

The Cravings founder notes that SI Swimsuit has seen her at every stage of life: from being a newbie in the industry to her IVF and pregnancy journeys to motherhood and beyond. And in addition to her solo cover feature this year, she joins 26 other brand legends—from powerful athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Brenna Huckaby to history-making models like Tyra Banks and Martha Stewart—all featured on three group covers, in honor of the publication’s 60th anniversary.

“For us to all be on the same cover now is just unreal. These are women that I idolized growing up. I still do. They ’re all entrepreneurs, they ’re all still badass boss b------,” she adds. “A lot of people think that after modeling, your career is kind of done, but they ’ve been able to propel what they’ve done in the earlier parts of their lives into a life that was great to them. I look up to that, that’s what I aspired to do. That’s what I love so much about Sports Illustrated [Swimsuit]. They got me to think about my body differently, enjoying life differently.”

Why she chose to return

Teigen has worked with renowned brands and publications throughout her career, but SI Swimsuit stands out for one particular reason.

“It was never the kind of shoots that you would be nervous for, [thinking] ‘Am I fit enough?’ It was never that kind of shoot, which is why I love them so much,” she gushes. “MJ is the same person today as she was when we shot 14 years ago. She makes you feel like a million dollars when you step on set and when you take that first picture. It’s always been such a cool, incredible feeling to have her root for me.”

Day is equally as proud and amazed by Teigen outside of modeling, and she raves about the model’s culinary empire, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen.

“Whether it’s one of her TV shows that she’s doing, or one of her products she’s developing or creating cookbooks, it’s really extraordinary to see what she’s done with a passion that really truly is something she’s always carried with her,” Day shares. “I love that for her, but I love [for] other women to see that it’s a great example of you just don’t have to stop with being one thing.”

Chrissy Teigen was photographed by Yu Tsai in Los Angeles. Swimsuit by ALAÏA. Earrings by Cult Gaia. Bangles by Saint Laurent. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Using her platform for good

Teigen adds that it’s not just her family life that has changed over the years. Her outlook on the industry and having a platform has shifted, too. Both she and Legend are firm believers in using their “position of power and influence” to speak up about injustices and be a voice for people who don’t have a platform. The TV personality admits that in earlier parts of her life, she wasn’t so brave, but now sharing her genuine thoughts and wanting to create positive change in the world comes as “second nature.”

“I have lived a life of wanting to make people happy, and perform[ing] for everybody, saying something that was either gonna get laughs or get me love. As you grow older, you realize that that stuff is not important. It’s important to really believe in what you say and stand by it wholeheartedly,” she explains. “We are unapologetic about the things we stand behind now ... It’s much safer to not say anything, but it’s much better to say what I know and truly believe is right, and take some s--- , than say nothing.”