The faces—and bodies—in the latest pages of Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Issue will look familiar to you—but other faces, such as 56 year-old Kathy Jacobs, will come as a welcome surprise.
As the New York Post reports, Jacobs—a mother and California resident who turned to a career of creating her own beauty products after hanging up her modeling hat almost three decades ago—landed a feature in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue after entering the publication’s open-call Swim Search. Now, the five-foot-three model is one of six finalists out of thousands of applicants.
But the road to the coveted glossy hasn’t been an easy one for Jacobs. From hustling to make ends meet for her beauty line, Beauty Batters, to appearing on Steve Harvey’s “Funderdome” competition for entrepreneurs, Jacobs tells The Post she’s been reinventing herself for years.
Yet her main takeaway from her wild ride is a simple, and relatable, one: “Don’t ever give up on yourself.”
Now, Jacobs, who has almost 69,000 Instagram followers is on a mission to inspire women to do the same. Going by @ageisbeauty on Instagram, her feed is filled with exercise tips, beauty products and a whole lot of gratitude.
So how does the silver-haired model look so incredible at 56? Jacobs says she uses her own skin-care products, which are all made from “collagen-friendly ingredients,” and says she has dabbled with Botox in her forehead and lip fillers.
“I wanted to look the best I could. If 20-year-olds are getting it, why is there a stigma for someone my age? I want to be transparent to people,” she said. “I don’t want to be like the women my age who say it’s just their diet and drinking lots of water when it’s clear they have done something.”
As for the secret behind Jacobs’ killer body, it’s all about putting in the work. According to Jacobs, she works out four times a week, and after a health scare, now maintains a strict diet. “I don’t eat bread, pasta, white potatoes, rice or meat. I eat fish and don’t have sugar.”
And after scrolling through these photos, we might be rethinking our quarantine diets, too.
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