Alix Earle, Tiffany Haddish & Hilary Duff Cover SI Swimsuit 2026

The 2026 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has arrived — and it looks like nothing you’d expect. Tiffany Haddish, Hilary Duff, Alix Earle and Nicole Williams English are the four cover stars this year, a lineup that spans comedy, Disney Channel nostalgia, TikTok royalty and high fashion in one fell swoop.

The covers were unveiled exclusively on TODAY on May 12, with each woman photographed in a different corner of the world — Botswana, South Caicos, Loreto in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and more. Earle was shot by photographer Ruven Afanador in a gold string bikini by Andi Bagus. Duff wore a cream one-piece by OYE Swimwear for her shoot in South Caicos, photographed by Kat Irlin. Haddish posed on a beach in Loreto in a two-tone orange string bikini by Slate Swim, shot by James Macari. Williams English was photographed by Ben Watts wearing Same swimwear.

Editor-in-Chief MJ Day was direct about the intention behind the choices. “Our four cover models — Hilary Duff, Alix Earle, Tiffany Haddish and Nicole Williams English — redefine what you might expect from the SI Swimsuit Issue, and that’s exactly what makes this moment so exciting,” she wrote. “The goal is never sameness. It’s the opposite. These women possess relevance, resilience and range that extend far beyond what the world expects of them.”

Tiffany Haddish: ‘This Little Girl From South Central L.A. Is Now a Swimsuit Model’

Of the four, Haddish’s reaction may have been the most visceral. The Emmy-winning comedian and actress — best known for the 2017 breakout Girls Trip — said landing the cover has been a lifelong dream, one rooted in family history. Her grandmother was a swimsuit model and one of the first Black women to model clothing on television.

“I think it is gorgeous. I think it is everything that I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl,” Haddish, 46, said on TODAY.

In her Sports Illustrated cover interview, she went even further: “This little girl from south central L.A. is now a swimsuit model. If you believe in yourself enough, you can achieve anything.”

Haddish, who recently married herself during filming of her Peacock docuseries Tiffany Haddish Goes Off, also connected the cover to her ongoing self-discovery. “The things that made me happy last year don’t necessarily make me happy this year,” she said. “If you want to keep growing, you have to constantly be asking, ‘What makes me happy now?’ I want to keep growing, keep evolving, so I’ll keep doing that work.”

On the subject of romance, she was equally candid — and hilarious. When TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie asked if she was manifesting anyone now that the cover was out, Haddish didn’t hesitate. “Oh yes, I’m manifesting several dudes. We’ll see what happens.” She declined to name names, explaining, “I don’t wanna give out no names because I don’t want to scare the boys. I know how they get scared when they hear their name.”

She also confirmed on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle that she dates widely — “The youngest one I believe is 35, and the oldest one is 83” — and summed up her philosophy with characteristic Haddish flair: “I’m in an open marriage, OK, with myself. We like to look at beautiful men. We love beautiful men over here. And sometimes ugly men with beautiful minds.”

She also couldn’t resist taking a playful shot at TODAY co-anchor Craig Melvin, who was fidgeting with his wedding ring during her segment. “Don’t be playing with your ring now, player,” she said. And she called out Carson Daly for ducking her in the hallway: “I flirted with him back in the early 2000s. He wasn’t ready. And it looks like he’s not ready now.”

Hilary Duff: ‘It Was a Celebration of Women’

For Hilary Duff, the shoot was personal in a different way. The 38-year-old mom of four has spoken openly about struggling with body image as a teenager, and the Sports Illustrated cover clearly meant something beyond a great photo.

“I’m a mom of four, and I’m not a spring chicken,” she told the magazine. “I don’t typically frolic around in a bathing suit, so it was a little scary. But it was also incredibly empowering. It was a mostly female crew on set, and it really felt like a celebration of women.”

She reflected on how far she’s come from the years she spent measuring herself against others. “The amount of pressure I put on myself to look like other people was a lot,” Duff said. “I can look at my body now and appreciate all the things it has done for me. I no longer find that I am constantly comparing myself — and that is a better place to exist.”

Alix Earle: 1.6 Billion Likes and Still Getting Uncomfortable

Alix Earle has 1.6 billion likes on TikTok and a platform built on radical honesty — so it tracks that her SI Swimsuit cover, shot in Botswana, leans into exactly that energy.

“I often feel like I am a big sister to my audience. I’m being honest and hopefully showing that it is OK to embrace exactly who you are,” Earle, 25, told Sports Illustrated. “And that’s exactly what SI Swim does. It’s not about presenting this perfect picture. It celebrates women, not because they are flawless, but because they are fully themselves — the good, the bad, everything.”

On TODAY, she was still processing the whole thing. “It has not settled in at all,” she said. “I can’t fathom it, it’s just so surreal and such an incredible dream. Just the shoot overall was so spectacular.”

She also pushed back, gently, on the idea that confidence is something you either have or you don’t. “In fact, I’d say that getting uncomfortable is how you start feeling more comfortable. I think that willingness to try — even if it’s something that scares you — is the only way to reach your full potential.”

A Bigger Issue Than Ever

The four cover stars are part of a larger roster of 34 women across film, sports, social media, fashion and business — what SI Swimsuit is calling one of its most expansive issues to date. Also appearing in the issue: Brooks Nader, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, Bethenny Frankel, Camille Kostek, Hannah Berner, Remi Bader and Olandria Carthen, among others. Several women in the issue hold Olympic gold medals and WNBA championships.

“From established supermodels to emerging digital creators, this year’s cast reflects the full spectrum of modern femininity,” the magazine said.

To celebrate the release, several cover stars headed to New York City to light the Empire State Building, and SI Swimsuit hosted an exclusive pop-up event called the Social Club. The issue is available now on swimsuit.si.com and across digital platforms, with print copies available in select markets May 14 and nationally on May 26.

Day’s note on Haddish may be the one that sticks: “Tiffany’s deeply human story rooted in joy and honesty.” For a woman who once dreamed of this moment as a little girl in south central L.A., that feels exactly right.