SI Swimsuit Model Samantha Hoopes Served Major Main Character Energy in the Caribbean

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

SI Swimsuit model Samantha Hoopes first posed for the brand in 2014, when she traveled to St. Lucia for a unique bodypaint photo shoot. The 33-year-old has starred in the issue seven separate years, traveling everywhere from Kangaroo Island, Australia and Scrub Island, British Virgin Islands to Curaçao and Malta.

In 2018, she traveled to Nevis with photographer Josie Clough, a talented visual artist whom she worked with three years in a row. The two created magic together on the breathtaking island in the Caribbean Sea, and Hoopes rocked the cutest, summery, colorful bikinis.

The Pennsylvania native, who has starred in campaigns for GUESS and Levi’s, is the youngest of five sisters. She signed with her first agency in 2011, and has been unstoppable ever since.

“People close to me say modeling’s not forever and I agree with them, but I also think the time is now or never so I’d rather have now to look back on rather than never have done it,” she said of her career. “I’ve always lived in my house under my parents’ roof. Then when I moved to Hollywood last year, I felt so liberated and like a different person. I could wake up and choose what I wanted to do. For once in my life, I’m following my heart instead of doing what people tell me to do.”

Today, Hoopes is a mom of two. She shares her children, George and Kennedy, with her husband, businessman Salvatore Palella.

Below are six stunning photos from Hoopes’s photo shoot with Josie Clough in Nevis.

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Samantha Hoopes was photographed by Josie Clough in Nevis. / Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated