Tyra Banks Graces Cover of 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

22 years after she became the first first African American woman to appear solo on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Tyra Banks has come out of modeling retirement to appear on the cover again.

As reported by Yahoo, Banks revealed the cover on 'Good Morning America', making note that she's not the young model she used to be,

My first one was 23 years ago, how crazy is that. I’m like damn — I’m 45 dawg!

As part of her return to the magazine, Banks attempted to recreate a memorable shot from her previous appearance,

We couldn’t find the exact one in the archives — it was the polka dot bikini so we recreated that bikini,” she said. “I recreated it [the shoot] — 25 pounds heavier.

Despite being in her mid-40's and not the same weight she used to be, its hard to deny that Banks looks absolutely stunning on the cover. This marks the third time Banks will have been featured on the cover of the Swimsuit Issue, appearing with Valeria Mazza in 1996, and by herself in 1997, becoming the first African American woman to be solely featured on the cover.

Banks is one of three women who will have covers on the upcoming issue, with Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan from the USA National Women’s Soccer team and 2018 SI Swimsuit Model Search winner Camille Kostek both being featured on separate edition covers for the issue.

Of the three cover models this year, SI Swimsuit Editor MJ Day said,

The three women that make up the covers of the 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue represent the brand in the most powerful way possible. While each individual woman is so unique, they come together cohesively to tell a spectacular story.