Meet Your Cover Model: Nicole Williams English Manifested This Moment

Model, mom and designer Nicole Williams English is the definition of perseverance. The Paradise, Newfoundland, native has been manifesting her cover on the SI Swimsuit Issue since she was a teenager, and with the publication of the 2026 magazine, her wish has officially come true. The four-time brand model has landed the cover of this year’s issue after being photographed by Ben Watts in Montauk, N.Y.

Nicole Williams English was photographed by Ben Watts in Montauk, N.Y. | Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Click here to view Williams English’s full gallery.

Williams English, 41, has been vyying for a spot on the front of the SI Swimsuit Issue ever since seeing Tyra Banks on the cover of the magazine in 1997. In order to make her career aspirations a reality, Williams English and her mom moved away from their small Newfoundland town to Toronto, where she got signed at the age of 16.

“They gave me a long list of things I’d need to do in order to even attempt [eventually landing the SI Swimsuit cover], including building my portfolio,” she said of the initial direction provided by her new agency. “So, I lived in Taipei, I lived in Barcelona, I lived in Cape Town—working on my book like they told me to. I didn’t want anyone to ever be able to say, ‘Well, you didn’t do this and that’s why you didn’t get it.’ ”

Eventually, Williams English made her way to New York City, and in 2011, she started dating Larry English, who was a linebacker for the San Diego Chargers at the time. Several years later, she was featured on the E! reality series WAGS, and in 2017, she and English tied the knot in Laguna Beach, Calif. The two were eager to start a family, and in 2022, following several rounds of IVF, Williams English got pregnant—a major milestone she announced on the Swim Week runway that summer.

“Honestly, it’s not that I had given up on SI Swimsuit—I don’t think I’d have ever given up—but I had put that dream on hold,” she recalls of her priorities at the time. “And then, here I was five months pregnant, and I got a call that they wanted me to be a rookie ... In that moment, all of the hard work I had put in flashed before my eyes, and it felt incredibly gratifying.”

Williams English’s SI Swimsuit debut in Dominica earned her Rookie of the Year honors in 2023, and she has returned to the fold each year since, traveling to exotic locations like Mexico and Jamaica for her work with the magazine, all culminating in this year’s cover spot.

“For me, this is about more than being in a magazine,” Williams English said of her trajectory with SI Swimsuit. “I look back at my journey and I gave up time away from my family, I did schoolwork in hotel rooms, I worked nonstop. I believed in myself. I bet on myself—and that dream became a reality.”

Williams English is one of four cover stars for the 2026 SI Swimsuit Issue. She is joined by actor-singer Hilary Duff, comedian Tiffany Haddish and content creator Alix Earle. Read more here.