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

The brand star posed for the magazine seven separate years, including her 2018 feature in Nevis.

Ananya Panchal | Apr 14, 2024

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

Published Apr 14, 2024

ANANYA PANCHAL

Ananya Panchal is a writer on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit, where she covers fashion, beauty, pop culture and the internet’s favorite personalities and trends. She joined the brand in 2022 after roles at Bustle, the San Francisco Chronicle and the TODAY Show. Panchal loves to write about fashion in all its forms—from standout runway moments and evolving street style to the best accessories to elevate each season’s wardrobe (she rarely goes anywhere without a stack of jewelry and a coffee in hand). A self-proclaimed beauty fanatic, she’s always on the hunt for must-have products and loves breaking down viral trends. Her favorite series at the moment is spotlighting female founders and the stories behind the brands they’ve built—especially those shaping the future of fashion, wellness and tech. She is based between New York City and San Francisco and, when she’s not writing, can be found rewatching One Tree Hill, playing sudoku, trying new restaurants or ranking her favorite Disney Channel Original Movies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism with a minor in criminal justice from Boston University.