Gayle King Talks Body Confidence For Sports Illustrated Swim Issue

Gayle King was understandably nervous when she agreed to be in the 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. After all, it’s not every day you’re asked to pose in a swimsuit for a famous magazine — and that was before she found out she was on the cover. “I honest to God thought I had been Punk’d,” the journalist told Sports Illustrated Swimsuit of her reaction to the invitation. “And when I called [SI Swim editor-in-chief] MJ [Day] back… I actually said, ‘Are you punking me?’ That was my initial reaction. I actually didn’t believe it.”

King also wasn’t sure what the shoot would require of her, preparation-wise. “I said to MJ, ‘God, now I’m going to have to start starving myself,’” King recalled in an interview with People, but Day’s response set the tone for a confident and comfortable shoot.

“She said, ‘Absolutely do not do that. We don’t want you to change anything that you’re doing,’” King remembered. “I said, ‘Really? I don’t have to starve myself?’ and she said, ‘Please, we want you to do exactly what you’re doing.’ I said, ‘Well, is cottage cheese good on thighs?’ She goes, ‘Yes, Gayle. Actually, it is,’ because I was very worried about that.” The magazine wanted King exactly the way she was.

In fact, King said, she enjoyed one of her favorite foods the day before the shoot: a cheeseburger.

“I did have a cheeseburger,” the CBS Mornings host revealed. “It’s one of my favorite things. But [MJ] said, ‘Gayle, go for it. Do what you normally do.’ And that’s what I did.”

King also talked about the vision she had for the shoot, wanting to rock some “tasteful cleavage,” she said, without revealing more skin than she was comfortable with. “There were a couple bathing suits that they pulled out. I said, ‘I ain’t wearing that. I ain’t wearing that,’” King explained, noting that the suits she rejected were two-pieces or featured high cuts.

Ultimately, King loved the images (as she should!), even asking for minimal retouching. “I wasn’t bothered by things like dimples, I don’t have hangups about my age,” she told the New York Times. And in the process, her shoot (which ended up being on of the issue’s covers!) reflected her confidence and passion for representation.

“I think it’s important to celebrate women of all ages, all colors, all sizes, you know why?” King told SI Swim. “Because that’s who we are as women people.”

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