Pro-golfer Paige Spiranac is making her debut in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue this year.
The 24-year-old athlete proudly announced the news on Instagram today, sharing her excitement over her upcoming feature while posting a preview of what’s to come in the magazine.
Paige, who has faced criticism in the golf world because of her good looks and what some consider to be revealing clothing, said she was thrilled that the magazine is helping her embrace her body.
Welcome! Pro-golfer Paige Spiranac is making her debut in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue this year
Tough: This is the first athlete that the magazine has announced will be in the pages for 2018
On Tuesday morning, the SI Swim Instagram account uploaded a video of Paige posing in a sexy black swimsuit.
‘Meet the first athlete of #SISwim 2018, @_paige.renee!’ the magazine wrote. ‘She’s using her platform as an #SISwim model to fight cyberbullying and we couldn’t be more proud to welcome her into the family.’
Later, they uploaded another shot of her posing for photographer James Macari in Aruba, wearing a metallic, superhero-esque top and black bikini bottoms.
Paige posted pictures of her own, admitting it was hard to keep her big secret and she is honored to share it now.
‘This issue is about self-love, empowering women, body positivity, and encouraging everyone to be kind,’ she wrote. ‘Women face so much pressure every. single. day. to look, act, and talk a certain way, and it is so difficult trying to figure out what you “can” and “should” be.
‘It’s taken a long time, but I’m proud of my body! I’m proud of who I am! I’m proud that I can be strong, smart, AND sexy! SI Swim embraces ALL women, no matter what, and just wants them to feel loved.
Message: Paige said this SI Swim issue is ‘about self-love, empowering women, body positivity, and encouraging everyone to be kind’
Proud: She’s particularly excited to be in an issue about self-love
‘It’s taken a long time, but I’m proud of my body! I’m proud of who I am! I’m proud that I can be strong, smart, AND sexy!’ she said
‘You should feel loved and powerful and unapologetically YOU! And don’t let ANYONE tell you that you’re not perfect just the way you are.’
Golf fans often remark that Paige is a particularly beautiful golfer, but the comments she’s received have not always been positive.
In 2015, she competed in the Dubai Desert Classic and was asked questions she found insulting, including whether she was a model or a golfer. She also received death threats for showing her cleavage.
‘I had a really rough go of it both times I was here,’ she told The Guardian this week. ‘People seem to think I got where I am because of the clothes that I wear. That’s unfair to me and unfair to all of my accomplishments.
‘For people to say: “You only show some cleavage, that’s why you have what you have,” is unfair. That’s the injustice that we face every day as women and I see it a lot in golf.’
Scary: Paige revealed this week that while competing in Dubai in 2015, she received death threats and was harassed
She said people were angry that she showed too much skin, and she was asked whether she was a golfer or model
In Dubai, she said, ‘I was harassed, my family was harassed. I was receiving death threats, people were invading my privacy, I was being blackmailed. This was going on whilst I was trying to play.’
Getting the opportunity to embrace her body and be proud of how she looks was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up when SI Swim came calling.
‘Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is iconic,’ she told Golf magazine. ‘I’m so honored and humbled to be included. I’m still shocked to be completely honest. But they stand for everything I believe in, which is empowerment of women, body positivity, being able to love yourself for who you are.
‘They allow women to feel sexy if they want to feel sexy no matter what they look like or what size they are. I think that’s an attitude that everyone should have.
So far, she’s been thrilled with how her pictures have come out.
Sport pro: She said when people focus too much on how she looks and dresses, it diminishes how hard she worked to get where she is
‘It was so cool to be out there and feel so empowered. This is my body, let’s embrace it,’ she said
‘Usually in the golf shoots, it’s always, “Let’s button up a couple more buttons. Let’s pull the skirt down a bit more and keep it conservative.” For this one it was, “Let’s take off more!”
‘Usually in the golf shoots, it’s always, “Let’s button up a couple more buttons. Let’s pull the skirt down a bit more and keep it conservative.” For this one it was, “Let’s take off more!” It’s just a strip of fabric.
‘It was so cool to be out there and feel so empowered. This is my body, let’s embrace it. Everyone on the shoot was so great the entire time and made me feel so comfortable. It was the first time I ever felt comfortable on a shoot.
‘I love myself and I love my body. It really changed my outlook. Just realizing I need to be a more confident person and I need to believe in myself more and that it’s okay to feel sexy if I want to feel sexy.’
She also starred in a video for her debut, in which she talks about her involvement with Cybersmile, an anti-bullying organization.
Ta-da! Lais Ribeiro will appear in the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as well
Bikini mama: The 27-year-old, who is pictured soaking up the sun in Ibiza, was shot for her SI Swimsuit feature in the Bahamas by photographer Ben Watts
Sex appeal: Lais, who is pictured in Ibiza, will make her second appearance in the magazine this year, after making her debut as a rookie last year
Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated announced that Victoria’s Secret Angel Lais Ribeiro will be returning to its pages for the second year in a row.
And the publication did so the only way it knows how: by sharing a very sexy snap of the 27-year-old lounging on the beach in a teeny tiny bikini.
In the shot, the Brazilian beauty wears a string triangle bikini that barely fits, as she props herself up in the water along the shore of Harbour Island in the Bahamas.
‘SHE’S BACK!’ the Swimsuit Issue teased on social Media. ‘@laisribeiro dazzles in her first photo from #SISwim 2018.’
Shot by photographer Ben Watts, Lais sizzles in her OlaVidaSwim two-piece and makes sultry eyes at the camera.
This is only Lais’ second year posing for the magazine after making her debut as a rookie last year.
She knows what she’s doing! The magazine teased the first shot less than two weeks out from the big release (Lais is pictured in Tulum)
Here to stay! Lais, seen in a vacation snap, was thrilled to join the SI Swimsuit ‘family’ last year
‘As the newest Sports Illustrated model, I feel very proud of myself,’ she said in a video taken during her 2017 shoot, ‘because it’s not easy to get in here and I was really, really happy to finally get into the family and had now idea how amazing the locations, the crew… it’s unbelievable.’
Last year, she flew to Sumba Island in Indonesia to be shot by James Macari for her rookie shoot.
Now that she’s returning — and her profile has been further raised by donning the Fantasy Bra at the 2017 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — she’s doing double duty for the 2018 issue.
In addition to posing in actual fabric bikinis on the beach, Lais will appear in a bikini made out of shaving cream for Edge shave gel.
She’ll star in the racy campaign alongside SI Swimsuit rookie Robin Holzken, and the ad will appear in-book and online.
Total pro: Her profile has been dramatically raised in the past year, since she modeled the Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra in November 2017
Lingerie to bikinis: She’s used to showing some skin as a Victoria’s Secret Angel
And while the model returns to the publication, she will no doubt serve as an inspiration to this year’s group of Rookies, which includes the likes of Christie Brinkley’s daughter Sailor Brinkley Cook, as well as Rookie of the Year Alexis Ren, and Anne de Paula, Chase Carter, Georgia Gibbs, Jasmyn Wilkins, Kate Wasley, Raven Lyn, and Robin Holzke.
Alexis was named as the Rookie of the Year over the weekend, after coming out on top in a reader-voted competition against her fellow newbie models.
The model and social media star joins an impressive list of former winners, which includes Chrissy Teigen, Kate Upton, and Nina Agdal.