Craig Bowen 
Olivia Jordan is buying and selling in her tiara for a bikini — and she or he can’t wait to make her massive splash. The 29-year-vintage Oklahoma local, who became crowned Miss USA in 2015, is about to appear on this yr’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit difficulty for the first time. Jordan changed into chosen from an extra than 5,000 candidates and insisted this has been her closing dream. Fox News spoke with Jordan about posing for SI, and the way participating in pageants prepared her for this big second.
Fox News: How did you get concerned with Sports Illustrated?
Olivia Jordan: Sports Illustrated has always been a goal for me earlier than pageants have been. This opposition happened especially via social media... There become an open call, and every person who hasn’t had the opportunity to model for them can strive it out. I’ve been trying to get my sellers to put up me for years. People have instructed me I wasn’t the right fashion for them. It was given to the factor in which humans have been telling me, “you’re too vintage.” So it was without a doubt just a remarkable second to take a touch bit of my manage lower back. I desired to let Sports Illustrated determine whether or not I was too antique or no longer the right fit. And I’m so grateful that they instructed me the ones things weren’t true.
Fox News: How become the audition?
Jordan: … I submitted an Instagram video in March, auditioned in May in New York, were given narrowed down from 5,000… I ultimately got the call that I become inside the final six that would be in the mag…. By the time I honestly got to the shoot, it simply felt so surreal. I’ve been dreaming approximately this all the time. We were given to shoot in Belize, and it changed into a photographer I constantly desired to paintings with.
Fox News: You’re going to be blanketed within the February 2018 trouble. How did you respond to the news?
Jordan: I was just so excited. When I was a youngster, I struggled with self-esteem, so I suppose it turned into a totally surreal moment to peer how some distance I’ve come. I had a lot of gratitude. I became a person who didn’t like their frame and felt uncomfortable in a bathing match. I looked at these ladies and the kind of confidence they embodied… I usually felt I was out of my league… It’s hard to realize whilst an existence dream has come true fully. But it sincerely is coming genuinely.
Fox News: You previously said that once, Miss USA, you feared public failure. Why?
Jordan: Being Miss USA was the first time I’ve ever been within the public eye in any way. It was the first time I changed into exposed to online bullies and all of these things that all people in any form of public function have been in. But it made me honestly scared. My fanatics have such excessive expectations of what I should do and have to do. And I want to maintain impressing them, inspiring them in some ways. You don’t want to be pulled apart by people… I assume being in the public eye made me extra self-conscious in some ways. And in some methods, that’s accurate… But in a few methods, I sincerely had to get past that worry.
Fox News: How did pageants prepare you for this moment?
Jordan: Acting has constantly been my intention, and I turned into modeling to make a living simultaneously as I did auditions and attended lessons… And while you’re a swimwear version, Sports Illustrated is what you aspire to do. So that became very high on my radar for over a decade. The pageants took place because I changed into reality, pissed off I wasn’t getting the auditions and roles I desired. I’ve constantly watched pageants and been interested in them. However, Sports Illustrated became an in shape for my long-time period dreams…. Pageants, in my mind, were a backup profession… I knew I needed to work hard at it to make that possible. And with any intention, you need to work tough to make those dreams come real.
Fox News: In the beyond, you were told by using casting directors to lose weight. How did you cope?
Jordan: When I commenced modeling, I was 14, and there have been several pressure. When you’re young, human beings see the capability of your career. There become quite a little stress so that it will satisfy that. I was advised I could make it very early on, but I could have to lose inches off my hips. But realistically, that is how my frame’s fashioned. So it changed into, in reality, unrealistic for me to shed pounds. And then, I had to research that lesson in a tough manner. I did truly get into dangerous patterns. I had to take a step back from modeling. I decided to get my diploma and visit Boston University.
When I came lower back to modeling at 21, I was then informed all of the time, “You’re too vintage to be modeling.” “You want to lose weight; you need to get exclusive surgeries.” There were so that a lot of crazy comments. But the greater I became assured in myself, the much fewer negative comments I was given. I suppose you should discover the right humans inside the commercial enterprise to paintings with. Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma is crowned by Miss USA 2014 Nia Sanchez after prevailing in the 2015 Miss USA splendor competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 12, 2015. Fifty-one state name holders competed in the swimsuit, night robe, and interview classes for the identity of Miss USA 2015. REUTERS/Adrees Latif ATTENTION EDITORS – FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – GF10000157477
Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma is topped with the aid of Miss USA 2014 Nia Sanchez after triumphing the 2015 Miss USA beauty festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 12, 2015. Fifty-one country titleholders competed in the go well with evening gown and interview categories for Miss USA 2015. (Reuters) It’s clearly not healthful for me to be a size zero when I’m not. I suppose I needed to do plenty of growing up, and I needed to recognize modeling wasn’t all I can offer in the world… When I commenced receiving that poor remarks, I took it so in another way than when I did at 14. At that age, I turned into like, “Yes, ma’am, I’ll lose as an awful lot of weight as you need.” Now it’s like, “No, thanks. That’s now not for me.”
Fox News: It’s been stated Sports Illustrated celebrates exclusive frame kinds.
Jordan: I assume that’s why I always linked with SI… Even once I become advised at 14 to lose weight, and my agent might display me those Vogue cover fashions, I might actually carry in problems of SI and cross, “I suppose those are extra realistic standards”… To me, it’s constantly been a party of herbal, real bodies. And they’re getting better at that in being greater inclusive. I’m so excited about it as it’s properly for everybody… You mustn’t combat to be one model of beauty.
