Tiffany Haddish is seeing some of her wildest dreams realized.
On Tuesday, May 12, Sports Illustrated revealed the 46-year-old comedian as the latest cover model for its annual Swimsuit Issue, alongside Hilary Duff, social media star Alix Earle, and Canadian model Nicole Williams English.
Haddish appears on the cover, photographed along the beaches of Loreto, in a burnt-orange bikini layered over a golden-yellow suit, flashing a cheeky smile with long silky hair and soft, sun-kissed glam. Inside the issue, she leans into bold, retro-inspired swimwear with a subtle nod to 1980s glamour, posing in everything from a black sequined cutout one-piece paired with gold accessories to a vibrant purple Dolce & Gabbana halter suit with a playful chest cutout. Other looks include an aquamarine ruffled swimsuit, a classic red bikini, and a hot-pink satin two-piece, all screaming unapologetic summer fun.
“I think it is gorgeous. I think it is everything that I dreamed of since I was little girl,” Haddish said during an appearance on “Today” on Tuesday moments after seeing it for the first time.
Haddish — who said she is also making history as the first comedian to grace the swimsuit issue’s cover — explained that this milestone is arriving as both something she manifested and as part of the legacy of her late grandmother, Alice Ray, who had been a swimsuit model in the 1950s.
“I’m looking at it right now like, ‘oh my goodness, that’s me,’” she said of the cover, before adding, “I wish my grandma was alive. I wish my grandma was seeing this, because my grandmother was a model back in the [1950s].”
The comedian explained her grandmother, who won custody of her and her siblings when the “Girls Trip” star was 15, was among the first Black women to appear on television modeling clothing, and that she used to show Haddish how to pose. Haddish said she developed the desire herself while watching her grandmother, though her grandmother didn’t exactly see modeling in the “Night School” star’s future.
“I didn’t grow tall enough,” she said with a laugh. “She was like, ‘Yeah, it’s not gonna work out for you. But, you know, there’s other things you could do.’ And so I became a comedian, but I just kept dreaming of it, kept hoping, wishing, and then now I’m doing it … I know she’s smiling.”
Three years after her death, Haddish opened up during an appearance on “Today with Jenna and Friends” about losing her grandmother in 2022 and how, in particular, her death helped her realize she understood what love is.
“It still hurts, but it’s like a good hurt,” she noted. “It’s a good hurt in my heart. To know that I was capable of loving that much.”
Speaking more about her cover, Haddish said a lot of hard work went into it, including remaining in the ear of Sports Illustrated, staying consistent in the gym, and finally pushing her management to reach out.
“To me, it represents hard work, dedication, legacy for my grandmother, for myself,” she said before recalling growing up as a track-and-field star in high school and believing she would one day become an Olympic athlete and land on the cover of the sports publication that way.
“That didn’t pan out. Became a comedian, and I was like, ‘Oh, is my dream dead?’ But I still believed in it. And here I am today, first comedian ever to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.”
