Danielle Herrington just landed the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover!
The California-native dazzled as the model cover star in a bright pink bikini with her hair long behind her and was posed on a pink sand beach in Harbour Island, Bahamas. Danielle made history with her cover, as the third black woman to land the cover of the annual issue. She follows Tyra Banks, who had the cover in 1997 and Beyonce, who had the cover in 2005.
Danielle was overjoyed about her cover on Tuesday and shared the happy news on her Instagram.
The stunning model also revealed how she found out she was going to be the SI Swimsuit issue cover star — from her idol, Tyra Banks. SI brought Danielle to their offices under the guise that she was going to get a tour of their headquarters. During the tour, she walked in on a “shoot with Tyra Banks” and that’s when Tyra broke the news that she’d be the cover model for the 2018 issue. It was the first time Danielle had ever met Tyra in person. “She’s the reason I knew about Sports Illustrated,” Danielle told SI. “Her being the first black woman on the cover was so important to me.” Talk about an awesome moment!
Need to know more about Danielle? Check out the 5 fast facts below!
1. Danielle is an Instagram superstar: Long before she was slaying the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, Danielle was killing it on Instagram. She’s been wowing her 59K Insta followers with shots in lingerie and swimsuits and capturing her everyday life as a California girl turned New Yorker.
2. She’s is a newbie model: According to Sports Illustrated, Danielle only started modeling professionally a year ago — and her first professional shoot was as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue rookie. She appeared in the 2017 issue and apparently her hard work for the brand helped her land her spot as the cover star in 2018. And if her big break wasn’t already impressive, she went on to hit the runway shortly after and scored her first fashion show in Philipp Plein’s spring 2017 show in September. The runway show featured catwalk heavyweights Irina Shayk and Adriana Lima too!
3. What model diet? Danielle loves fried chicken and tequila: In her interview with SI, she told their editors that her favorite dinner is the ‘Kung Pao Spaghetti with Chicken’ from California Pizza Kitchen and every time she’s in LA, she makes a special stop at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. While she’s at Roscoe’s she always orders the Obama Special, which is three wings and a waffle. She also dished that her drink of choice is a tequila soda.
4. Danielle grew up in California: While she lives in NYC now, Danielle actually grew up in Compton, California, and spent some of her early days posing on the beaches of Long Beach.
5. She’s a smarty pants: Danielle told GQ Magazine in 2017 that if she wasn’t modeling, she’d want to be a child psychiatrist because she likes knowing how the brain works.
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