Swimsuit

Watch Lauren Chan Learn She’s on the Cover of SI Swimsuit 2025

Mara Milam

Lauren Chan was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by PQ Swim. Necklace by Andi Bagus.
Lauren Chan was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by PQ Swim. Necklace by Andi Bagus. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

MJ Day surprised Lauren Chan after a photo shoot with her 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover.

TRANSCRIPT

Chan: I'm so excited to be back for 2025. I came out in the issue in 2023, and this year I'm engaged. And what's really exciting about that is I've gone from a baby gay to somebody who feels really in herself, and I get to tell you what I've learned. My confidence comes not from what I look like, but who I am and what I have to say. And who I share that with, and the community that's able to build. And I hope that that's how anybody who resonates with my time here is able to go into their life and feel too.


MJ Day: So we are here in Brooklyn, New York, getting ready to surprise our Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2025 cover model, Lauren Chan. She has no idea we're here. We are at her location of her photo shoot hiding in a little conference room upstairs... "Hi, cover girl! Surprise!"


Chan: Hi, I'm Lauren Chan, and this is my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2025 cover.
I just think about the people like my younger self who will see the first out lesbian on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit and feel seen and celebrated.

Published
Mara Milam
MARA MILAM

Mara Milam is the deputy digital editor at SI Swimsuit. The California based multimedia content producer and editor joined the “swim team” in March of 2020. Mara is a lover of all things travel and wellness and is passionate about elevating the voices and stories of people often not heard.

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