Q&A With SI Swimsuit Legend Chrissy Teigen

This year marks the model’s ninth with the SI Swimsuit brand.

Chrissy Teigen was photographed by Yu Tsai. Gown by Pamella Roland. Rings by SHAY Jewelry. Earrings by A.JAFFE. Shoes by Jimmy Choo. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Turning 60 has never looked so good. To celebrate the big milestone in style, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit called upon 27 “Legends”—women of all ages, sizes, tribes and backgrounds—who epitomize trailblazing influence and game-changing impact. 

From supermodel OGs who made their first splash on the magazine’s glossy pages in the 1970s and ’80s to stars newer to the SI Swimsuit sisterhood—the Legends symbolize diversity, inclusivity, empowerment and self-love.  

“The Legends hold the power to represent the collective us,” SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day says. “Each one has played a significant role in the brand’s last 10 years, holding important conversations that have helped shift societal perceptions and led to incredible change for women.” 

The Legends had plenty to say in their one-on-one interviews, held during a three-day SI Swimsuit event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., where photo shoots for the 60th anniversary issue were underway amidst a flurry of glam teams, wardrobe stylists and veteran fashion lensmen. The Legends were unfiltered, funny, wise, compassionate, profound, and at times, searingly honest—proving that a woman’s inner beauty is her most important superpower of all.   

See more from the Legends photo shoot here.

Chrissy Teigen is a model, entrepreneur, author and television personality. But, most importantly, she’s an SI Swimsuit brand legend. The model began her partnership with the brand back in 2010 and landed on the cover four years later in 2014. This year, she returns for the 60th anniversary issue, and her second brand cover.

What does being an SI Swimsuit Legend mean to you? 

“It’s breaking barriers. SI Swimsuit is breaking the mold of what people think beauty standards are, of what beauty should be. They’ve always celebrated women as whole [people]. It’s not just this is a beautiful woman to look at, but this is a beautiful person to be around.

“It’s something I realized from my very first meeting with MJ [Day, editor in chief], even before getting into a swimsuit. We sat and talked for hours about our dreams, goals and visions for my future. That was 14 years ago. Seeing the magazine evolve, and seeing MJ turn it into this magazine with such incredible, diverse women is really beautiful to see.”

Chrissy Teigen was photographed by Yu Tsai. Gown by Pamella Roland. Rings by SHAY Jewelry. Earrings by A.JAFFE. Shoes by Jimmy Choo. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

View Chrissy Teigen’s Los Angeles photo gallery here. View her Legends photo gallery here.

Describe yourself in three words.

“Resilient, loving, empathetic.” 

 What do you love most about being yourself? 

“I wear my heart on my sleeve and I love that I’m really good at adapting to many different personality types. I feel like I know how people need to be spoken to or treated, because everybody is so different, and their needs are different. Especially with my children, I can really adapt. I’ve grown up moving so much and having to make friends very quickly and in very different places. I’ve grown up in entertainment as well, and those sets are filled with hundreds of people who are all vastly different. So, one thing that I love about myself is that I have always been able to adapt to change really quickly, and really well.”

What can women do to better empower each other? 

“It helps to share struggles and to be able to band together through the hardships of being a woman, the things that come with being a mother, the things that come with being a daughter to parents that are getting older, or all those different changes that women go through in life. 

“Whether it’s the struggle to conceive or the struggle to find your place in a career that is dominated by men, or in a world that is dominated by men, I think it’s nice to have other women to commiserate with. Only we can really understand each other’s plight.

“I think for me, it’s being outspoken about the hard times. And being able to have that warmth come from people when they know your full story and know that you are a fully formed human being with different emotions, going through different chapters in life. To share that story and struggle and to do it publicly or in an element where you have a lot of reach, like social media, where people can relate or become more empathetic, is important.

“I love it when a woman shares her struggles in business with me, because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I thought I was the only one.’ Everyone looks like their company is doing so well. They’re posting so much, doing this and that, and they have this billboard, and I don’t have that. So, it’s really special to have that bond where you feel like wow, I’m not alone.”

Chrissy Teigen was photographed by Yu Tsai. Gown by Pamella Roland. Rings by SHAY Jewelry. Earrings by A.JAFFE. Shoes by Jimmy Choo. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

What excites you most about your life right now? 

“I’m going through a significant business change. Cravings has come a long way. We started as a little blog, selling things we loved. Seeing how many people like what we’re doing and want to collaborate, it’s really big. It’s always been really big for me to want to amplify brands, especially small businesses, and women-owned businesses, and be able to amplify their incredible ideas. Whether it’s cookbook authors or creators online, I think it’s really amazing that people are finding their love for food and their passion for food and at Cravings.

“We’re adapting to a changing atmosphere of people; maybe five years ago people wanted to be indulgent, or maybe they wanted five-minute meals. But now what’s important to people is something clean and healthy-ish. They want to be decadent, but they want to eat clean. My least favorite thing in the world is putting more junk into this beautiful world, our beautiful planet. I believe in creating things that are necessary and needed and filling that void. And I think we’re doing just that.

“We’re on such a good track right now, getting more people to know about the brand. We have 20 people at our company and we’re still creating content on the fly. It’s not a well-oiled machine yet, but it is a fun machine to work on. It’s fun seeing the growth and seeing where we were and where we are now.

“We are in grocery stores that I grew up going to and to see my mixes there is so exciting. I love the people that I get to work with every day. I love seeing them get to be creative and for it to be their dream job is so cool. I love it, it is just such a fun and unique experience every single day. I feel lucky that my office is my kitchen at home; I get to be with my family, pets and my friends.

“I have Fridays where it’s all about tasting food. It’s a dream life and the support that I get from fans interacting with me all the time is so incredibly important to me. They’ve been there since the beginning, and it's a really cool thing to see. It’s the same with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, they have been there with me since the beginning. They have seen many different versions of me, and they’ve accepted all of them. And that is so beautiful to me.”