SI Swimsuit Legend Cheryl Tiegs Reflects on Controversial White Fishnet One-Piece Photo

The Minnesota native, widely regarded as America’s first supermodel, shared her thoughts on the iconic photo in ‘Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue.’

Cheryl Tiegs attends a screening of ‘Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue’ at the 25th annual Newport Beach Film Festival / Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

Over the 60 years of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, there have been countless iconic, envelope-pushing looks on the cover and the pages. While many photos published in the magazine have sparked controversy, the message behind the issue was always to highlight women for who they are and not just what they look like. This is proven in the new documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell‘s Swimsuit Issue, chronicling the incredible woman who brought the issue to life. Directed by Campbell’s daughter-in-law Jill Campbell, the doc features interviews with SI Swimsuit models and former SI employees along with footage of the brand‘s founding editor who sadly passed away in 2022 at the age of 96.

One legendary SI Swimsuit model who appears in the documentary is Cheryl Tiegs, the first model to appear on the cover twice. She created quite the buzz, particularly with her now-iconic 1978 photo shoot in Brazil where she wore a white fishnet one-piece—soaking wet. Though she looked stunning in the photo, the fact that her nipples were visible seriously angered many readers. The documentary explains how the photo came to be, and it was a pretty spectacular accident.

Photographer Walter Iooss Jr. remembered it being “a miserable afternoon in the middle of nowhere in the Amazon,” with Campbell recalling in a voiceover: “It was awful light. I went up to Cheryl, and because the light was bad, I said, ‘Would you please get wet?’ Because I thought if her skin glistened, we'd get some highlights.” No one expected this shot to be the one that would generate so much attention—both good and bad.

Tiegs herself called the photo, which you can see below, “a throwaway shot,” adding, “The simplicity, I think, of just a girl walking on the beach in a bathing suit like that was intriguing. I don't know. I don't know. It's not my favorite shot.” Despite not being her favorite, however, it ended up being one of the photos that made her a household name. She went on to appear on the cover of Time three times among other achievements.

Cheryl Tiegs photographed by Walter Iooss Jr. in 1978 Brazil / Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

The documentary touched on how readers also really loved the photo because they had seen Tiegs in the magazine multiple times and felt like they knew her at that point. Decades before social media, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit was creating personalities out of their models, featuring their names in the magazines and making a purposeful effort to treat them like humans. Campbell’s vision, especially while navigating such a male-dominated field, was imperative for the magazine to work—and undoubtedly is responsible for the brand's longevity.

We also got to hear about Campbell’s process of casting models for the Swimsuit issue, which, of course, was very intentional. “The reason I was attracted to California girls was that they grew up in a sunshine state,” she said. “They were tan, they were healthy, their bodies were great, and they weren't skinny, skinny. And when I started, it was during the Twiggy days where all the models were thin and I didn't want to be able to see through a girl's legs. I wanted them to have muscle and meat. They were Sports Illustrated girls, and of course, they eventually became supermodels.”

I had the pleasure of seeing Beyond the Gaze at the DOC NYC premiere in Manhattan on Sunday and felt so moved by Campbell’s work. She was such an inspiration for women everywhere, and, unfortunately, she did not get the credit she deserved while she was alive. Jill Campbell does a fantastic job highlighting the late visionary’s contributions to society and how much she really challenged the status quo to empower women. She paved the way for women like MJ Day, SI Swimsuit’s current editor in chief, to not only become another amazing leader of the brand, but also an amazing advocate for women.

Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell‘s Swimsuit Issue will play again this afternoon, Monday, Nov. 18, at the DOC NYC Film Festival at 12:30 p.m. ET at the Village East by Angelika. You can also stream the documentary virtually.