I'm such a day-to-day person and 'Sports Illustrated' was a 12-year-long dream that finally came true.
Confidence is sexy. That's what 'Sports Illustrated Swim' stands for. They have this movement where you can just be beautiful no matter what shape, what size, your height, your body type, your ethnicity.
I want to model and I want to do whatever it takes to be a 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit model.
'Sports Illustrated' does extremely minimal retouching. Other publications, however... phew. They do a lot; I've watched myself be Photoshopped before. It. Is. The. Worst.
When we do 'Sports Illustrated,' it starts the night before. You do a St. Tropez tan that night, then baby oil gel, then body color.
I remember my first 'Sports Illustrated' shoot was with the photographer Walter Iooss, and Julie Campbell was the editor, and we were at the president of Mexico's private house in Cancun - this was before anything else that's now in Cancun even existed. And they told me to get a tan, so I spent all morning in the sun, and I was burnt.
It's become another dimension to who I am. I don't think Sports Illustrated is going to be wanting me. But who cares? I'm at a different place in my life.
When there were first rumors of us going after LeBron, some fans wondered how we could do that after all that happened. But after the 'Sports Illustrated' letter, every fan is thrilled to have him back. That was so heartfelt.
The first thing they gave me at 'Sports Illustrated' was a first-class air card. 'And oh, by the way, there's the petty cash drawer,' they told me. 'Take a few thousand dollars for expenses.'
For a while I was on the cover of every Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which was regarded as the pinnacle of success in America.
