While pregnant with her second child, after suffering several heartbreaking miscarriages, Katrina Scott was named Sport’s Illustrated Swimsuit’s 2021 Rookie. Her stunning photoshoot marked the first time a visibly pregnant woman was featured in the infamous pages of the Swim Edition, and the story of her struggle to conceive will live alongside of them. “For as long as I wanted this, I’m really happy that it didn’t happen in my 20s. It means so much more as someone who is 38, who is a mom, and how much I appreciate my body now versus in my 20s,” Katrina, who was 38 and a half weeks pregnant at the time, told HollywoodLife in an EXCLUSIVE interview. “To be able to represent more women, and more moms out there, and more women that may even feel like it’s too late for them, because I thought maybe it was too late for me, and then this happened.”
Katrina added that “for years, a lot of women had been told to hide their bumps to be in SI: Swim, or to as soon as possible postpartum, as soon as you can, get back into those pre-pregnancy pants,” and her shoot shows that times have changed. “I think it’s really beautiful now that the media and people are starting to open up and say, ‘Hey, this chapter of a woman’s life is really beautiful too, and it should be celebrated, and it should not she should not rush to look anything other than who she is, as she is postpartum.”
When she was asked by editor MJ Day to shoot for the new issue, Katrina admitted they “didn’t even hesitate” when she told them she was expecting. “They were like, ‘Yes, absolutely. This is a moment, let’s do this,'” she recalled. “They are incredible and they just really empower women. I felt amazing. It was the best maternity suit I could have ever asked for, and I’ll have these forever.”
Katrina shot on location in St. Croix and her best accessory was definitely her bump, that peaked through her bikini while she lounged oceanside and glowed in the sunset. “I’m really excited that beauty standards are changing and evolving for both men and women. So I hope when you know a man opens up that magazine, he sees his partner is wife girlfriend represented and sees how beautiful that is,” she told HL. “I hope for her, when she opens up those pages, that she sees herself and that she feels worthy as she is, whatever she’s going through, and knows that her body is a miracle and resilient. Our body is always the one thing that we can always count on, and so I hope that she just feels beautiful when she sees all these diverse women in there.“