Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman appears in Sports Illustrated's upcoming Swimsuit issue, posing nude in a powerful new photoshoot. In the photos, Raisman poses on a white backdrop with words and phrases like 'SURVIVOR' and 'Women do not have to be modest to be respected' scrawled across her body.
In addition to some of the snaps from the shoot, Sports Illustrated posted a behind-the-scenes clip on its Instagram page featuring Raisman and her thoughts on what the shoot means to her. "One of the coolest things about this shoot is that we are our own directors, which never happens" Raisman explains in the video. "You know, you get to a shoot and there are so many people on set, everyone's kind of telling you how to pose, how to go, what to do and then here it was so cool because we were in full control."
Last month, Raisman joined more than 100 athletes who shared their harrowing stories of being sexually abused by former gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. The 23-year-old delivered a harrowing speech during Nassar's sentencing hearing, which became instrumental in his sentence of 40 to 175 years in prison.
"I think everything goes through really hard times and I decided to be so honest about what I went through because the tough times are very hard to talk about and they are uncomfortable," the six-time Olympic medalist explains in the clip. "but they are equally as important in shaping us as the good times."
The 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue hits newsstands on Tuesday, February 13.
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