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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.
“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.

Vanilla Ice is standing by the Freedom 250 concert celebrating America’s milestone birthday after several performers pulled out this week, saying “music is not political.”
The rapper confirmed Friday that he’ll still perform at the President Trump-affiliated Freedom 250 Presents: The Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., as Martina McBride, Bret Michaels and other artists abruptly dropped out of the lineup.
“I’m here to party with America, man. Music is made to bring people together and that’s what we are here to do. And we’re just gonna represent the ’90s,” the “Ice Ice Baby” hitmaker told TMZ.
The 58-year-old, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, argued that the event is about celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary rather than politics.
“I don’t even vote, so I don’t even care. If Biden called up and said, ‘My daughter is getting married, we need Vanilla Ice,’ I’d go play. It’s not a big thing,” he said.
“You play for your fans. We don’t get a chance to pick our fans, they pick us. And I’ll go play for Putin and I’ll play in Iran if you want, it don’t matter. There’s fans everywhere.”
“Music is not political, it’s universal,” he added.
Vanilla Ice also brushed off criticism surrounding the event and the artists who have decided not to participate.
“Come on, enjoy the dancing. Don’t take it so serious. We’re just entertainers, man,” he said. “I don’t think anybody should take this serious, including them.
“I think everybody should just go dance. It’s just music, what’s the big deal, man? We’re just entertainers.”
The rapper has previously performed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, taking the stage at the Palm Beach, Fla., club during a New Year’s Eve bash at the end of last year.
Vanilla Ice echoed the sentiments in an Instagram video Thursday, saying he was “honored” to be part of the celebration.
“America is turning 250. Come on, man. Let’s go,” he said. “We’re gonna bring back the ’90s. Put your dancing shoes on.
“It’s all about enjoying the great times of 250 years, man. George Washington until now, all the presidents and everybody in between.”
He captioned the post: “Happy birthday America 250 years. It’s gonna be an epic party. This is to bring us all together.
“This is not a political platform. This is celebrating America’s birthday. Nothing too serious just enjoying some fun, dancing and great memories.”
His comments come after several acts announced they were withdrawing from the Freedom 250 concert following this week’s lineup reveal.
Country singer Martina McBride exited the event one day after being announced, calling the promotion surrounding the concert “misleading.” Bret Michaels, Young MC, Morris Day & The Time and The Commodores have also backed out.
Still on the bill are Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, C+C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan.
Freedom 250 was launched by Trump last year and describes itself as a “national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.”
The Freedom 250 concert is part of the Great American State Fair, a free festival that will take over the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from June 25 through July 10.

The king of Staten Island has nothing but good things to say about the queen of the Kardashians.
“Isn’t it crazy Kim’s good at acting?” Pete Davidson, 32, asked Nikki Glaser about his ex-girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, on Friday’s episode of his “The Pete Davidson Show.”
“I remember when we were dating, one day she was just like, ‘I think I’m gonna be an actress.’ And I was just like, ‘F–k yeah!’ And then [she’s] just good at it and I’m like, ‘Get the f–k out of here.’ She’s so good at acting.”
Kardashian made her acting debut on Season 12 of “American Horror Story: Delicate” in 2023.
Then, in 2025, the Skims mogul landed a starring role on Hulu’s “All’s Fair.”
Kardashian is now starring in and producing the upcoming Netflix comedy “The Fifth Wheel,” which also features Glaser.
The comic went on to sing the mom of four’s praises while on Davidson’s show, calling her co-star “so smart.”
“Anything she wants to do, she will do it,” Glaser gushed, “especially if people are like, ‘You can’t do this.’ And for her to go into acting with all the public perception of her anyway, she knew … everyone’s gonna look for her to fail.”
From the Golden Globes host’s point of view, it’s impressive to take on a project where “you know people are gonna try to find your weakness.”
Davidson called the business woman “superhuman.”
The “Bodies Bodies Bodies” actor also confessed that he “learned from” Kardashian that she can do anything she puts her mind to, despite public opinion.
“Like, she don’t [sic] give a f–k. It’s unbelievable,” Davidson mused.
The exes dated for nine months from October 2021 to August 2022 after Kardashian divorced her ex-husband Kanye West.
At the time, the disgraced rapper allegedly spread unfounded rumors that Davidson was gay and had AIDS.
A source close to West, however, denied the claims, calling them “nonsense.”
An insider in Davidson’s camp told Page Six in the moment that the “King of Staten Island” star was “ignoring all of the Kanye hate out of respect for Kim.”
Despite the public drama, a source claimed that there was no bad blood when Davidson and Kardashian split.
“Kim and Pete have decided to just be friends,” a source close to Kardashian told Page Six at the time.
“They have a lot of love and respect for each other, but found that the long distance and their demanding schedules made it really difficult to maintain a relationship.”
Kardashian was then briefly linked to NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. before they split in April 2024.
In February, Kardashian’s secret romance with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was revealed.
The pair has been inseparable ever since.
For his part, Davidson dated Elsie Hewitt for a little over a year from March 2025 until earlier this month.
The two welcomed daughter Scottie in December before going their separate ways.
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