Tera Patrick

Tera Patrick is a celebrity in the world of fitness. The 43-year-old mother of three has been a staple on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition covers. She’s graced the covers of FHM, Redbook, and O, The Oprah Magazine, to name a few. For years, she suffered from binge-eating disorder, but after her third child was born she changed her approach to eating. In 2017, she became an advocate for body positivity and spoke out against the fashion industry’s treatment of young women. Below, you’ll learn more about her fascinating life and career.

A Career In Fitness

Tera Patrick grew up in Southern California, and after graduating from beauty school she worked as a make-up artist and hair stylist. While she was waiting for the career in fitness to emerge, she worked as a salesclerk at a Victoria’s Secret store and attended the Sports Illustrated swimsuit gym in New York City. After a while, she got the call from SI that she’d been waiting for: She’d been chosen for the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

The next cover of the magazine might not have been what she’d envisioned. While she was preparing for the cover shoot, she went on a diet and lost 20 pounds. Yet, when the pictures finally came out, they weren’t like her at all. The magazine’s makeup artist and hair stylist had applied too much makeup and hair spray, making her look like a zombie. Luckily, her fans didn’t seem to mind too much. “I don’t know if I’ve ever received such positive feedback,” she said at the time. “I guess I’m just used to people loving me for who I am, not for how I look on the cover of a magazine.” She soon realized that this was going to be a trend. The fashion industry was starting to favour photogenic women with thin skin who could display the products. While she was initially hurt by the way the industry looked at her, she later realized it helped her career. “I think it was a wake-up call, in a way,” she told O, The Oprah Magazine. “Just because I look like this doesn’t mean I have to stay here in this industry and be objectified.”

A Family-Friendly Workout

Tera Patrick embraces her family while working out. The former swimsuit model often posts pictures of herself with her kids on social media, and in interviews she’s spoken about how important family is in her life. “I want to be there for my kids in whatever way I can,” she told Time Out magazine in 2016. “Whether they want me to play with them, help them with their homework or just be there to listen when they have problems.” In an interview with BuzzFeed News, she said, “I don’t have time to selfishly work out and focus on my goals because my children need help with their homework or they’re tired of waiting for the bus and want me to drive them to school.”

Patrick isn’t the only celebrity who focuses on family while working out. Many women in the fitness industry have also blurred the line between work and play, combining a hectic schedule with parenting, family, and friends as a full-time job. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in three American women aged 14 to 49 work in a “family-friendly” job compared with one in five men. As more women enter the workforce, it’s expected that this trend will continue.

An Advocate For Body Positivity

In 2017, Tera Patrick became one of the most outspoken figures in the fight for body positivity. The year before, she’d spoken publicly for the first time about her struggles with binge-eating disorder and how she’d overcome it. She also revealed that she’d been the victim of sexual misconduct and harassment while promoting a makeup product. This made her extremely vulnerable, and she spoke out about how the beauty industry wasn’t safe for women. “I believe that as a woman, I deserve to feel comfortable in my body and not have any insecurities about it,” she told O, The Oprah Magazine. “I’m not here to judge anyone.”

The industry responded positively to her openness and vulnerability. After the publication of her book Pretty Happy, in which she openly talks about her eating disorder and how she’d changed her approach to food, women across the globe shared their stories of struggle and progress through social media. Many also wrote about how the book had helped them overcome their own eating disorders.

On the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, she said, “For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like something was wrong with me because I didn’t have the body of a ‘normal’ girl. I spent a lot of time as a teen trying to figure out who I was meant to be and what beauty standard I was supposed to meet. Now that I’m at a place where I feel comfortable in my body, I want to use my experience to help others feel the same way. It’s really important to me that people know they are deserving of love and happiness no matter what size or shape they are.”

A Passion For Travel

While traveling the world with her family, Tera Patrick fell in love with Thailand. She went on a quest to find the perfect beach, eventually settling on the one in Hua Hin. In an interview with Thrillist, she said, “There is something about having a place that is completely your own and being able to create your own rules that you have to abide by that makes you feel very powerful.” In a now-deleted tweet, she added, “One of my favourite ways to travel is to explore places that I’ve never heard of. I find it exciting to go to a country that isn’t even on the map yet.”

Ever since, she’s been trying to get a house in Thailand and began sharing pictures of her travels and vacationing with friends on social media. In 2018 she opened up about her bucket list, which includes visiting every continent except for Antarctica. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this, going to all these exciting places that I’ve never heard of,” she told Travel + Leisure. “I want to see the world and not be bound by schedules or finances.”

A Staple On The Cover Of All The Right Magazines

What’s striking about the above is that, aside from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, none of the magazines are exactly what one would expect to see on the cover of a fashion or beauty magazine. Instead, they’re all outdoors-focused publications that often feature people doing sports. Yet, it’s not like Patrick isn’t the cover girl of a traditional beauty magazine from time to time. The trick seems to be that she always chooses her photo shoots carefully. For instance, on the cover of Redbook, she’s not posing with her kids or outside, but instead is holding a tennis racket with three other women, one of whom is her mom. She also frequently appears on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, but this time she’s holding a stuffed animal instead of a tennis racket.

The Perfect Fit

After her divorce 10 years ago, Tera Patrick has been married twice more. While she’s been unable to have children of her own, she’s dedicated herself to being the best possible mother she can be to her stepkids. In an interview with Refinery 29, she said, “I think that as human beings, we can be so much more than what we show the world. We can be kind, gentle, and most importantly, we can love. And that’s something I want to bring to my children’s lives.”

It would appear that Patrick has found the perfect fit as a lifestyle and fashion writer. In addition to her weekly column in O, The Oprah Magazine, she’s penned articles for multiple publications, including Elle, Self, Redbook, and InStyle. In 2018, she was a founding member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the country’s leading trade group. For years, she’s been a face on the cover of countless magazines, but with her new-found empowerment, she seems determined to keep posing for photographers and magazine editors for years to come.