A C-Section Scar Is in the Pages of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit for the First Time Ever — See Photo

Slowly but surely, the stigma around C-section births is being broken down day after day. For the first time ever, after 58 years, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit has a model showing a C-section scar in its pages, which is an extremely exciting stepping stone for people who have experienced this type of birth to feel represented.

The founder and CEO of the parenting brand Frida Mom, Chelsea Hirschhorn, worked on and with the advisory board for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit to help put forth this genuine image of what birth and motherhood can look like — especially for those who haven’t given birth in the “traditional” way. Along with the spread, the publication also just launched a C-section recovery line, looking to give people who have had C-sections a spotlight and let them know that they should be proud of their bodies for bringing a human life into the world.

Kelly Hughes, the model gracing the pages, admitted that although her C-section scar hasn’t directly impacted her career, the insecurity that resulted from it did because her work revolves around her body. “It took time to heal physically and mentally and embrace all that I had gone through and the many changes to my body to find the strength in it,” she tells Allure. “It wasn’t until I embraced my scar that I experienced the power in it.”