Legendary ‘SI Swim’ Model Dismisses Her Iconic Photos as 'Throwaway'

Cheryl Tiegs dissed her iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover, saying that the shots used were “throwaway” and “not my favorite.” The revelation came during the new documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue (via People), which tells the story of Campbell, the late SI editor who got the ball rolling on the annual swimsuit issue. The doc also goes behind the scenes of the 1978 photoshoot which produced Tiegs’ iconic white fishnet swimsuit look.

“The white fishnet was a throwaway shot,” Tiegs said of the revealing outfit. Surprisingly, Campbell and photographer Walter Iooss Jr. agreed with the model. Iooss called it “a picture you wouldn’t show anyone. It was taken on a miserable afternoon in the middle of nowhere in the Amazon.”

Because of the “awful light” at the location, Campbell suggested that Tiegs dip into the water. “Because I thought if her skin glistened, we'd get some highlights,” he explained. “It wasn't, 'I'll see more if the suit's wet,'" Tiegs added.

But regardless of the intention, Tiegs felt the decision robbed the shot of some sincerity. “Getting the suit wet was what made it so see-through,” she said. “Before, it was just a bunch of cotton. The simplicity, I think, of just a girl walking on the beach in a bathing suit like that was intriguing…It's not my favorite shot."

However, Iooss believes this exact combination rocketed Tiegs’ shot to legendary status. "It wasn't just that there was a beautiful woman with visible breasts in the pages of Sports Illustrated,” he said. “It was a beautiful woman that Sports Illustrated readers felt like they knew. It was Cheryl freaking Tiegs."

You can watch Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue online as part of the DOC NYC Film Festival. You can buy tickets here.