Megan Fox doesn't want to be seen as a "misunderstood outcast"

Megan, who was snapped by Greg Swales in the Dominican Republic for the issue, said: "Shooting 'Sports Illustrated Swimsuit' is definitely a lot of pressure.

"I have a vision in my head that I'm trying to achieve, so we'll see if it pans out for me.

"What I most want people to know is that I'm a genuine soul who is hoping to actually belong to something and not always have to live as a misunderstood outcast."

Along with Megan and Martha, Kim Petras, 30, and Brooks Nader, 27, were also featured as cover stars as part of the series of new editions.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day said in a statement: "(Megan) humbly accepts her stunning beauty while simultaneously seeking to be seen and appreciated as the woman of intellect and internal beauty."

When the magazine's Instagram account trailed the 2023 cover stars, it branded them "absolutely groundbreaking".

It also described the women as "mothers, artists, entrepreneurs, history-makers and everything in between".

Megan and her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly, 33, have been dogged by breakup rumours in recent months.

The pair have reportedly been having daily couples' therapy after they were said to have split in February.

Megan - who has sons Noah, 10, Bodhi, nine, and Journey, six, with her actor ex-husband Brian Austin Green, 49, who she divorced in 2021 after they were together for 10 years - also spoke out to deny MGK had cheated on her after fans speculated he had a fling with his band's guitarist Sophie Lloyd.

The actress deleted her Instagram account in January after wiping all photos of the rapper from her feed, but returned to the platform on February 19 to dec lare there had been no "third party interference" between the couple.