Salma Hayek reflects on Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover shoot

Hollywood star opens up about her regret over sports illustrated cover shoot

Salma Hayek has recently revealed she accepted to be one of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit‘s 2025 cover models.

Speaking on the Today show, the House of Gucci actress said, “I said yes and then when it was time to do it, I tried to back out.”

“I said, ‘No,’ because the bathing suits never fit me, how am I gonna do this? There’s nothing my size — I always suffer,’” recalled the 58-year-old.

Elsewhere in the interview, Salma also opened up about a “very bad case of imposter syndrome”.

“I remember when I was young and hot, I used to look at this magazine. I wanted to see who was the new gorgeous model, the new girl of the moment,” stated the Eternals actress.

Salma continued, “And it never crossed my mind that I could be on that cover because they didn’t look like me.”

“My body’s not necessarily the model type and I never thought that was a possibility. And for it to happen when I’m 58? It’s really shocking,” explained the Bliss actress.

Salma revealed that Sports Illustrated Swimsuit sent “200 bathing suits” to try on and the actress shared, “A lot of them needed to be altered.”

However, at the time of shoot, the final altered suits disappeared and the magazine had “a small selection of extras” on set.

“That’s what I wore… So, you will see, they don’t all fit perfectly. If it’s extra small, it was accidental!” mentioned the Everly actress.

Salma pointed out that she was not confident at first but as soon she stepped on to the beach and a whale jumped behind her.

“All of a sudden, I felt, ‘This is magical. This is my land. I’m 58, I’m doing this,” remarked the Grown Ups actress.

Salma added, “My generation, especially Mexican women, we thought we were going to be dismissed at 35.” 

“And I got so excited, I felt really free. I put on Bad Bunny, I started dancing, I loved it!” she concluded.