
Livvy Dunne opens up on feud with New York Times after 'sex sells' photoshoot
Dunne, 22, was left furious in November 2022 when The Times published a profile on the then-LSU gymnast with the headline: 'New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells'.
And years later, the social media sensation opened up on the fury that the article triggered in her, before admitting that the negative experience opened up new opportunities for her.
Sitting down with WWE 's Steph McMahon on her 'What's Your Story?' podcast, Dunne revealed the role the article played in clinching her first-ever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover.
Speaking about her work with Sports Illustrated, Dunne said: 'It all started because of a hit piece [that] the New York Times wrote about me.
'They came to our gymnastics facility at LSU, took pictures of me. They said, "wear your team-issued attire, put on a leotard," and they took a picture of me standing in front of the beam like any gymnast would and then they blew it up on the screen and put the headline, "Sex Sells".'
Dunne continued: 'Okay well, you just came into the facility and took pictures of me in our team-issued attire and blew it up on a screen. So I was like, well this is crazy. And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that.
'I decided I was going to put that same picture that they posted and captioned "Sex Sells" on my Instagram story and write "@ The New York Times, is this too much?" Because, come on, you know what you're doing. You just put a picture of me in a leotard for clicks and then caption it "Sex Sells."
'And then people loved that. They were like this is so great because no, it's not too much. You're in your team-issued attire, which is a leotard for gymnasts." [...] There was a lot of positive feedback from that.
'So, Sports Illustrated reached out to my agent. I was so excited about that. That was always a dream of mine. There's some legends and some amazing athletes that have been in Sports Illustrated.'
In May, Dunne, who called time on her athletics career last month, was named as one of four cover stars for SI Swimsuit's 2025 edition after appearing in two previous issues.
Her first cover shoot with the magazine, which was carried out in Bermuda, showed Dunne her in tropical conditions while wearing a collection of skimpy bikinis.
The main cover shot saw her kneeling in the water in a zebra-print bikini top and green bottoms while staring directly at the camera.
Dunne confided to McMahon that she captured that particular shot while kneeling on a fractured kneecap - an injury that heartbreakingly cut her fifth and final season with LSU short.
Despite soldiering through injury, Dunne gushed over the experience, insisting that shoot left her feeling confident.
In her five years at LSU, Dunne became the most-followed and highest-paid female college athlete with over 13 million combined TikTok and Instagram followers and a NIL (name, image and likeness) valuation of $4.1million.
However, in April her gymnastics career finally came to an end as she bid an emotional farewell to the Tigers.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
How Gwyneth's perfectionism caused a 'noxious' atmosphere at her controversial lifestyle brand Goop: Final extract from new book reveals how she came up with THAT candle and fell out with Anna Wintour's team
Gwyneth Paltrow may not have known as she headed into Goop's weekly staff meeting one January morning in 2017 that the company was about to be hit by one of its biggest controversies. Goop, which Gwyneth had started as a lifestyle newsletter nearly ten years earlier, sometimes promoted wacky products that attracted headlines and boosted sales.


Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min to join a Major Soccer League team this summer is 8/15 with Sky Bet
Tottenham legend Son Heung-min is attracting a wealth of interest from teams in Saudi Arabia and the USA this summer, having most recently emerged a shock target for Major Soccer League outfit Los Angeles FC. The South Korean, who has now entered the final year of his Spurs deal, is being linked with a move away from north London this summer following the arrival of new manager Thomas Frank from Brentford. As part of Sky Bet's transfer specials market, Son is now favoured to join an MLS club by September 2, which carries odds of 8/15. A move to the Saudi Pro League is deemed the next most likely destination with the bookies, garnering odds of 4/5. Meanwhile, a reunion with former Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho at Fenerbahce could be on the cards, with Sky Bet giving that scenario odds of 7/2. Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester United and Liverpool round out the top six, with odds of 7/2, 12/1 and 18/1 respectively. Sky Bet Special: Son Heung-min to sign for before September 2, 2025 Any MLS club - 8/15 Any Saudi Pro League club - 4/5 Fenerbahce - 7/2 Bayer Leverkusen - 7/2 Man United - 12/1 Liverpool - 18/1


Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Jamie Lee Curtis on why her mother Janet Leigh would've 'been incredibly upset' about her Oscar-winning role
Jamie Lee Curtis calls herself the 'OG nepo baby ' having had a leg up in showbusiness thanks to her famous parents Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. But the outspoken 66-year-old doesn't think the late Psycho scream queen would've approved of her grittier, unflattering characters like IRS revenue agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All at Once. 'Today I have a freedom to be myself that my mother's generation would never have allowed,' Jamie revealed in her People cover story Sunday. 'My mother would've been incredibly upset at Everything Everywhere All at Once and how I looked. My mother would have loathed [how I looked].' Curtis continued: 'Her generation was so much about your body and what you look like. And the beauty. The beauty is just who she was. That's what her life was. My mother was literally jaw dropping. But I think that would've been very hard for her to see me with my tummy sticking out.' The Bear actress famously won an Oscar for her performance in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's critically-acclaimed multiverse dramedy, which went on to amass $143.4M from a $25M budget in 2022. Jamie also looked rough as Shelly's (Pamela Anderson) hard-living gal pal Annette, a cocktail waitress living in her car, in Gia Coppola's critically-acclaimed 2024 drama The Last Showgirl, which earned $7.1M from a $2M budget. 'Or in Last Showgirl, for [Janet] to see me in that dressing room at 66 years old. That really would've upset her,' Curtis noted. 'I know her very well. I have accepted myself in a much bigger way than I think she felt she was allowed to, through her generation.' The Borderlands actress added: 'I know that my mother was so proud of me and and what I've achieved, that she respected my husband's work and was thrilled to be a grandma.' Leigh passed away, at age 77, in 2004 after a protracted battle with vasculitis while her famous father died, at age 85, in 2010 of cardiac arrest. On Saturday, Jamie - who regrets undergoing a lower blepharoplasty at age 25 - called out the 'genocide of a generation of women by the cosmeceutical industrial complex, who've disfigured themselves.' 'I believe that we have wiped out a generation or two of natural human [appearance],' Curtis told The Guardian. 'The concept that you can alter the way you look through chemicals, surgical procedures, fillers – there's a disfigurement of generations of predominantly women who are altering their appearances. And it is aided and abetted by AI, because now the filter face is what people want. 'I'm not filtered right now. The minute I lay a filter on and you see the before and after, it's hard not to go: "Oh, well that looks better." But what's better? Better is fake.' Curtis continued: 'Her generation was so much about your body and what you look like. And the beauty. The beauty is just who she was. That's what her life was. My mother was literally jaw dropping. But I think that would've been very hard for her to see me with my tummy sticking out' (pictured last Tuesday) The Bear actress also looked rough as Shelly's (R, Pamela Anderson) hard-living gal pal Annette, a cocktail waitress living in her car, in Gia Coppola's critically-acclaimed 2024 drama The Last Showgirl The Borderlands actress told The Guardian: 'I believe that we have wiped out a generation or two of natural human [appearance]. The concept that you can alter the way you look through chemicals, surgical procedures, fillers – there's a disfigurement of generations of predominantly women who are altering their appearances. And it is aided and abetted by AI, because now the filter face is what people want' However, the Halloween alum 'minds her business' when it comes to advising her Freakier Friday onscreen daughter Lindsay Lohan, whose facial features are noticeably more taut than they were seven years ago. Jamie noted: 'I'm bossy, very bossy, but I try to mind my own business. She doesn't need my advice. She's a fully functioning, smart woman, creative person. Privately, she's asked me questions, but nothing that's more than an older friend you might ask.' Curtis and the 39-year-old former child star executive produced and reprised their roles in Nisha Ganatra's mother-daughter swap sequel Freakier Friday, which hits US/UK theaters August 8. It's hard to believe it's been 22 years since the Emmy/Grammy nominee and Lindsay portrayed Tess and Anna Coleman in Mark Waters' critically-acclaimed remake of Freaky Friday, which amassed $160.8M at the global box office. Last Tuesday, Jamie confirmed she'll play mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher in Universal's upcoming reboot of the CBS hit series Murder, She Wrote - which aired for 12 seasons spanning 1984-96. 'Oh, it's… happening,' Curtis told ET. 'We're a minute away, but yeah, [I'm] very excited. Very excited. But I'm tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting. I have a couple of other things to hustle, but then I'll get to enjoy that work.' The LA native's other upcoming projects include James L. Brooks' political dramedy Ella McCray for 20th Century Studios, Liz Sarnoff's eight-episode series Scarpetta for Amazon Prime Video, and Russell Goldman's scam psychological horror Sender.