SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 18, 2023--

Kim Petras has made history by becoming the second transgender woman to model on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As part of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's annual issue, the popstar was picked as one of the four cover stars including Megan Fox, Brooks Nader and Martha Stewart. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In her cover photo which was shot by Yu Tsai in Los Angeles, Petras wore a gold bikini as she stood in a pool and had her armed posed above her head. The Grammy Award winner is the second transgender woman cover star, with actress Leyna Bloom being the first to grace the cover back in July 2021. "It’s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so [it was a] big dream come true for me," Petras told the publication. Fans of Petras flocked to her post and congratulated her on this achievement. One person wrote: "So so proud of you Kim this is iconic @kimpetras KEEP BUSTING DOWN THEM DOORS" "Beautiful!!! Congrats!!!! I wish you the best and many more of these," another person said. Someone else added: "And the photo credits being colored as the trans flag? Iconic. @sportsillustrated really focusing all in those details. Congrats, mama!!!" The 30-year-old German singer also acknowledged what it means to be part of the transgender community amid a wave of anti-trans laws being introduced in states and the pressure she feels to represent it in an interview with the magazine. "It’s definitely a scary time to be transgender in America, but there’s also so much more representation than there’s ever been, and there’s so many things on the bright side," she added. “I do feel a pressure sometimes to represent the trans community with everything I do because I feel very blessed that I am at this point where I have all these amazing opportunities that I’ve worked really hard for and feel so happy when I hear from trans people in general that they’re inspired by me.” Though she also noted that everything she does is "definitely not about being transgender." “I always try to remember that everything I do is definitely not about being transgender. It’s a part of me, but there are so many other parts of me. And I think that’s really important for me to show that to people,” she said. “No matter what your gender or sexuality or any of that stuff is, it’s about what you make of life and it’s about what’s inside of you, so I hope that can be inspiring to people.” It's not the first time Petras has made history, as she became the first trans woman to win Grammy for Best Pop Duo for her collaboration with Sam Smith on the hit song 'Unholy.' Petras's new highly-anticipated major label debut album, Feed the Beast is out on June 23. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Nato’s secretary general has warned Ukraine it is in for a “long war” with Russia while a Kyiv chief has called for the swift provision of weapons to halt Vladimir Putin’s forces. Ukraine has been continuing its counteroffensive, claiming to have taken the eastern village of Klishchiivka. Kyiv soldiers reportedly continued their counteroffensive on Sunday, using drones to disrupt air traffic in Moscow and causing a fire at an oil depot in the southwest of Russia. Read our live blog of events in Ukraine and Russia here. Ukraine has not yet commented on the attacks. In addition, an anti-Moscow guerilla group claims to have destroyed two Russian vehicles in Kherson. Russia has also been on the attack, striking an agriculture facility in Odessa on Sunday. It has also been reported that a farm worker has died and another left injured in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region after their tractor hit a mine while ploughing a field. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (Nato) chief Jens Stoltenberg told German media on Sunday that he could see no sign of the Kremlin giving up. “Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” he said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media. “Therefore we must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine.” The head of Ukraine’s security council has also shared his thoughts on what is needed for the war to come to an end sooner rather than later. Oleksiy Danilov said on Sunday: “Refusing or delaying the transfer of modern weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces is a direct encouragement to the Kremlin to continue the war, not the other way around.” He spoke as Mr Stoltenberg urged Germany to increase its defence spending by an even greater proportion than the 2 per cent target set by chancellor Olaf Scholz in 2024. The Nato chief said: “During the Cold War, when Konrad Adenauer or Willy Brandt governed, defence expenditures consisted of 3 to 4 per cent of economic output. “We did it back then and we must do it again.” The Nato secretary’s comments came as South Korea’s president shared a warning over the increasing ties between Russia and North Korea. Kim Jong Un travelled to Russia last week for a summit with Mr Putin. But away from the images of the pair touring high-profile military and technology sites, insiders fear that Mr Kim might be in discussions about providing ammunition to Mr Putin’s troops. “Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes UN Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions,” South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol said. “The international community will unite more tightly in response to such a move.” Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has insisted that Washington “controls” the war in Ukraine, on the sidelines of a domestic economic forum in Vladivostok. “No matter what it says, it controls this war, it supplies weapons, munition, intelligence information, data from satellites, it is pursuing a war against us,” he claimed. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin ‘creating hedgehog defences’ as Kyiv drones target Crimea and Moscow Biden's national security adviser holds two days of talks in Malta with China's foreign minister First two cargo ships arrive in Ukrainian port after Russia's exit from grain deal

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