Entertainment
Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Lauren Chan’s meteoric rise

Brooklyn-based model and entrepreneur Lauren Chan is making waves, as well as being photographed in them.
In a forest green Cult Gaia bikini, hand on hip, knee-deep in Bermuda’s turquoise waters, the 34-year-old made history Tuesday as the first out lesbian to appear solo on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
“I tried to bare my soul — be funny, truthful and vulnerable. I was very proud of that moment,” Chan told Page Six in an exclusive interview.
Chan took a plunge in 2023, announcing her divorce from her husband on Valentine’s Day. Later that year, she came out as gay in a casting tape for SI Swim.
Tamara Beckwith
“I decided to write an essay about this whole process [of coming out] hoping people, perhaps, would see themselves in my story. I didn’t have many examples to reference when I was going through it,” Chan told Page Six, of reconciling with her own sexuality, and becoming more comfortable in her own skin.
Her honesty and relatability nabbed her the SI Rookie spot, for the 2023 issue, in which she posed in a yellow bikini on the beach in the Dominican Republic.
At the time, her career was thriving. She was a successful plus-size model and fashion editor at Glamour magazine, but admitted she was hiding from her true self.
“Stress and aimlessness drove me to start therapy, where I slowly uncovered my true self,” Chan wrote in her essay of untangling repressed feelings in her adulthood.
“I knew that staying closeted would only hurt me – and my husband – in the long run, so out I came,” she wrote.
In 2024, she graced SI Swim again in a shoot in Mexico. That year, she announced her relationship with film director Hayley Kosan – who adorably refers to herself as “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Husband of the Year 2025” in her Instagram bio. The pair got engaged earlier this year.
Now, Canada-born Chan has landed the coveted cover — and she’s celebrating every minute of it.
“I am more grounded in who I am and what I believe. The message I want to share is … I am trying to be more imperfect and more honest,” Chan told Page Six.
Her return to the the glossy wasn’t met with only applause. Chan told The Post she used her 2025 essay for the SI Swim issue to clap back at a hater who tried to belittle her achievement in a negative comment on social media.
“Who are they even doing this for anymore?? Women??” she recalled the nasty comment saying.
“The answer, I’m proud to report, is women,” she wrote in the essay, championing history-making women the issue has trumpeted, like Martha Stewart, who in 2023 became the oldest woman to ever appear on the cover of the magazine, at 81.
“This brand is to inspire women. To be anything and everything that it celebrates,” Chan told The Post.
Chan also gave a shout out to transgender singer Kim Petra’s 2023 SI cover along with NCAA gymnast Olivia Dunne, 22 – the top-earning female college athlete in the country – who also landed her own 2025 cover in an animal print bikini.
Chan broke into the fashion industry on a whim. She grew up playing elite level basketball, going on to play at the University of Western Ontario in Canada in 2008. During that time, her appendix ruptured, sidelining her time on the court.
“With all that spare time, I started fashion writing; from there, things snowballed. I started to intern in Toronto for a fashion magazine,” Chan recalled.
After graduating college, Chan moved to New York City, where she signed with Ford modeling agency to begin plus-size modeling.
“This was before the size-inclusivity movement. Eventually, I decided to start writing about plus-size modeling, which turned into writing about size inclusion and body positivity,” Chan, who has worked with designers like Vera Wang, Valentino and Christian Soriano among others.
“I started making a difference. I found my purpose,” Chan said, of making women who look like her feel seen.
In the age of Ozempic and similar medications being used as a quick fix for weight loss, Chan says it’s more important than ever that she fosters a safe space for body positivity.
“There’s certainly been a regression in size inclusion in the past few years,” she acknowledges.
“It’s important to focus on the outlets and the people and the brands that are standing by their ethos of inclusivity. We still exist – I’m a size 12 to 14 on this cover,” she told Page Six.
She also encouraged people not to fixate on what they see on social media, online and in advertisements and to concentrate on themselves firstly and mostly.
“Everyone’s journey with their body is extremely personal, and I am an advocate for mental health first. Every time I have a thought about not liking my body, I genuinely ask myself, whose idea that is.
“Most of the time, it’s not mine. It’s an idea that I absorbed through thousands of ads I see a day,” Chan said.
Photos: Tamara Beckwith/NY Post; Stylist: Margot Zamet; Hair: T. Cooper using ECRU New York; Makeup: Markphong Tram using Valentino Beauty; Stylist Assistant: Liz Wentworth; Location: World Spa, 1571 McDonald Ave, Brooklyn NY.
Entertainment
‘Summer House’ star Ciara Miller accuses West Wilson of sleeping with ‘RHONJ’ alum Jennifer Fessler

Ciara Miller accused her ex West Wilson of sleeping with “Real Housewives of New Jersey” alum Jennifer Fessler after the latter defended Wilson in an interview with Page Six.
The drama recently played out on threads, where a social media user recapped what Fessler said at Vulture’s The Masterminds of Reality TV event on Thursday.
“Former RHONJ ‘friend of’ Jenn Fessler was asked by Page Six about the Summer House scandal tonight and said this about West: ‘[West] is the cutest, sweetest golden retriever puppy dog. He does not mean any harm. He didn’t mean it. He’s just trying to have a good time. He doesn’t wanna hurt anyone. Give him a break.’ Girl…”
Miller replied on the platform, “lol, because they slept together too.”
One person wrote, “Ma’am! I beg your pardon?!?! Ain’t that old lady married? Oh he got a type,” to which Miller replied, “That’s what I thought….” alongside a cartwheel emoji.
Screenshots on Instagram and X have since gone viral, and fans were stunned to see Miller’s comments.
“Ciara has entered her IDGAF stage and is about to burn this s–t to the ground!” one person remarked on Instagram, while another wrote, “I just laughed the most nervous laugh out loud.”
A third wrote, “Ciara freaking Miller 😮 hahahahahaha SAVAGE.”
Fessler — who has been married to husband Jeff Fessler since 1999 — exclusively told Page Six on Friday, “It’s flattering that anyone would think someone who slept with Ciara Miller would be interested in sleeping with me.”
Reps for Miller and Wilson did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Drama erupted between the “Summer House” co-stars in March, when Wilson, 31, and Amanda Batula, 34, released a bombshell joint social media statement revealing their secret romance — in spite of West’s previous romance with ex Miller, 30, and Batula’s former friendship with her.
“It was never our intention to purposely hide anything,” they wrote in a joint statement on March 31. “Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we needed a little space to process things privately before speaking on it.”
Miller was seen huddled outside an Hermés boutique just minutes after the statement was publicly released.
A source divulged to Page Six in April that Batula and Wilson’s co-stars, including Batula’s estranged husband, Kyle Cooke — are “pissed” and “disappointed.”
Meanwhile, Mia Alario questioned the pair’s romance timeline after they claimed they’d become involved in February.
During her appearance on “WWHL” last month, the “Southern Hospitality” star claimed she’d been on a date with Wilson in September, and that he was already spending time with Batula.
“I met Amanda at BravoCon [in November] and she actually told me that they pregamed our date at his apartment,” she told Cohen during the appearance.
“At the time, I was like, ‘Oh, you’re such a good friend. That sounds like such a good time,’” she added.
Alario also alleged that Batula told her she gave Wilson “some advice and some tips” before their date.
“I was like, girl, did we get the same tip or what? Damn. I don’t know,” Alario said, calling their relationship “a messy situation” and saying she doesn’t “want any part of that at all.”
At Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea Live event last month, Alario said she wasn’t worried about Miller.
“Ciara, if she was ugly … I’d feel bad for her,” Alario quipped. “But she is one of the baddest bitches on Bravo.”
Entertainment
Heidi Klum worried Anna Wintour wouldn’t approve her Met Gala 2026 prosthetics

Heidi Klum brought the Halloween spirit to her Met Gala look.
Dressing as an actual marble statue — prosthetics and all — the model channeled the “Veiled Vestal,” Raffaelle Monti’s sculpture that’s currently housed in London’s Chiswick House.
Though Klum certainly took her interpretation of the dress code, “Fashion is Art,” to the next level, she revealed to The New York Times that she was concerned Anna Wintour — who has co-chaired the event since 1995 — wouldn’t appreciate her take.
“I was most worried that she won’t like it,” Klum told the publication, but revealed that she asked the Vogue head honcho herself while inside the event.
“She said yes,” the supermodel confirmed.
Much like Klum’s famed Halloween party, which sees the “Germany’s Next Top Model” host undergo a wild transformation into costume every October, “she planned the look for three months,” according to the Times.
Though “it took her five hours to get ready,” Klum admitted “it was the best her body had felt at the Met Gala.”
Confusing as that might sound, a quick glance towards the floor might explain a few things, as Klum stood in flats while much of the rest of the party teetered around in sky-high heels.
“For once, my feet don’t hurt,” she added, “wiggling her marble-like toes in flat sandals.”
Though Klum’s first Met Gala appearance was 23 years ago, this year only marked her sixth appearance at the fashion-centric event.
Entertainment
Jerry Seinfeld claims ‘Friends’ copied his sitcom ‘Seinfeld’

Jerry Seinfeld thew a little shade at “Friends” during at the 2026 Netflix Is a Joke Festival, claiming the show was inspired by his own iconic sitcom, “Seinfeld.”
The comedian made the comment during his set at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles Tuesday during a bit in which he asked the audience to guess what his all-time favorite show was, per the Hollywood Reporter.
When an audience member shouted out “Friends,” Seinfeld said he had a theory about the comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry.
“My show [‘Seinfled’] came on — ’89, ’90. ‘Friends’ came on a few years later,” he noted.
“I think NBC was watching my show and went, ‘Hey, this is working pretty well. Why don’t we try the same thing with good-looking people?’ And that was a pretty good idea,” he continued. “I think that kind of worked.”
“Seinfeld” — which starred the titular comedian as well as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander — premiered on NBC in 1989 and ran for nine seasons.
“Friends” debuted in 1994 and aired for 10 seasons on NBC.
Both shows revolved around a close group of friends living in New York City, though “Friends” was story and character-centric while “Seinfeld” was famously dubbed a “show about nothing” by Seinfeld himself and co-creator Larry David.
This isn’t the first time Seinfeld has taken credit for the success of “Friends.”
Kudrow told the Daily Beast in 2022 that Seinfeld once walked up to her at a party in the ’90s and told her “you’re welcome,” as “Friends” had been put on NBC’s schedule right after ratings juggernaut “Seinfeld.”
Last month, Kudrow revealed the “Friends” cast still gets a whopping $20 million a year from residuals, more than two decades after the hit sitcom came to an end in 2004.
But she noted in the same interview that their experience filming wasn’t always positive, and that “there was definitely mean stuff going on behind the scenes.”
“Don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response, they could be like, ‘Can’t the bitch f–king read? She’s not even trying. She f–ed up my line,’” she recalled to the Times of London.
Kudrow also claimed that the writers’ room, which was composed of mostly men, would “be up late discussing their sexual fantasies” about Aniston and Cox. She recalled the time as “intense.”
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