After heated speculation, Sports Illustrated gave Kate Upton a cover of its 2014 Swimsuit Issue after all.
The magazine has put an alluring Upton shot on its first-ever back cover of the swimsuit issue — while Nina Agdal, Chrissy Teigen and Lily Aldridge were previously unveiled as sharing the front.
Now, sources say, the models are all vying for the spotlight in a series of promotional events for the magazine. An insider told Page Six, “The trio of cover girls weren’t expecting to compete for attention with another girl on the back cover. Kate Upton didn’t land the front cover, but she still might steal the show.”
Upton, who appears on the back cover in a pink bikini in the Cook Islands, was a front-runner to be this year’s SI star, having scored the cover in 2012 and 2013.
Speculation further soared after Page Six exclusively revealed last month that SI photographed her in space last March in the Zero-G chamber, a specially equipped Boeing-727 that simulates zero gravity in flight. The pictures were revealed Tuesday, along with a Zero-G release which read, “Upton bounced and soared through the plane for the cameras.”
Word is Upton didn’t find out she was getting such prime placement on the back cover till after the front cover was revealed last week.
Upton was expected to join fellow SI models Anne V., Chanel Iman, Hannah Davis, Jessica Gomes, Ariel Meredith and Irina Shayk at a party celebrating the issue’s 50th anniversary Tuesday night in Tribeca, but was noticeably absent. A rep for the model told us she fell ill, but that she still plans to attend SI Swimsuit events this week in Miami.