Lizzo is closing out the month in a “Special” way, making her Sports Illustrated cover debut for the magazine’s July 2026 Swimsuit digital issue.
The “About Damn Time” singer wore her signature Yitty Swim bikinis and swimsuits for the poolside, Miami mansion-set shoot, marking a second of two recent Sports Illustrated moments. In the spring (May 30), Lizzo performed several songs from her new Bitch album, including “Sexy Ladies,” at the 2026 SI Swimsuit Runway Show during Miami Swim Week. The 38-year-old worked the catwalk in a bright blue one-piece swimsuit with the word “b—h” written across the front, a nod to her latest LP.
“My newest fantasy is about feeling good in my body and enjoying my life,” she told Sports Illustrated. “I worked so hard that I destroyed my nervous system. I have such bad anxiety that now I’m working on reversing those things because it’s not conducive to my career. It doesn’t help … to be an artist of this caliber and to have anxiety and to have fear. … There’s no place for that. I really am just seeking joy.”
This grounded, restorative outlook previews Lizzo’s exciting upcoming slate of projects. The Grammy-winning singer-rapper-songwriter hasn’t been on the silver screen in an acting role since 2019’s acclaimed Hustlers, but she’ll soon return in the starring role of a forthcoming Sister Rosetta Tharpe biopic.
Confirming that the film was greenlit and in development, Lizzo revealed, “We’re in the process of writing the script. There’s a lot of research that has gone into the biopic, and I want to be really careful and precious with the script because I think it’s really important to show a Black woman at that time in a different light. … I want her biopic to represent her as the superstar that she was.”
In addition to her acting career, Lizzo is also bringing her talents to the world of children’s books. This fall (Sept. 8), she’ll release Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’, a Mark Pett-illustrated picture book that follows “a girl [who] finds her voice with the help of a smart and sassy flute.” “I want to… give people backstory on my relationship,” she said. “I’m super adamant about young people playing instruments again. It used to be mandatory, and I don’t know if it’s mandatory anymore, and it scares me.”
It’s been a busy month for Lizzo, most of which she’s spent as a guest professor at Kai Cenat’s Streamer University, where she notably gave streaming star and Grammy-nominated artist Plaqueboymax helpful lessons in self-love after fellow “students” like online personality Ojaysuave harassed him and encouraged homophobia-laced speculation about his sexuality.
Last month (June 5), Lizzo’s Bitch became her first project since 2015’s Big Grrrl Small World to miss the Billboard 200 completely. Led by the singles “Don’t Make Me Love U” and the Meredith Brooks-nodding title track, the LP managed to reach No. 15 on Indie Store Album Sales and No. 46 on Top Album Sales.
