Teyana Taylor reacts to being named first Black ‘Sexiest Woman Alive’ for Maxim

Singer, model, and mom of two Teanna Taylor is Maxim’s 2021 ‘sexiest woman alive.’ She is the first Black woman to top the Maxim Hot 100 list and her reaction to the title is priceless.

“I’ve followed Maxim for a long time and I’ve always felt like I should be on the cover,” the dancer and entrepreneur said during the cover interview about her July/August Maxim cover.

“So to actually get the call saying they want me on the cover really means a lot. I was like, what? Do they want me on the cover? Okay!” she added.

Taylor graces the cover effortlessly in a hacked-off Hanes tank top and vintage army pants paired with a camo patterned Prada boots, showing off her nine months postpartum six-pack abs. The 30-year-old, who mainly styled herself throughout the shoot, finished off her look draped in a Pamela Love choker and gold accessories with her neatly braided cornrows and killer baby hairs.

“Somebody pinch me!!!! she began her long caption on Instagram under her Maxim cover, gushing over the fact that she wears the title by “literally living in the skin I’m in”. She added that the cover was “dope because it made me see another side of myself”.

“Stepping back in front of the lens has been a journey of self-reflection and self-confidence. Living up to the name and title of this shoot wholeheartedly made me nervous,” the Harlem native continued.

“As an entrepreneur, wife, a busy mother of two and working behind the lens in my director bag, I tend to hide behind my sweats and vintage tees, My ‘Spike Tey’ glasses, and whatever hairstyle I’ve mustered up that day…,” she reflected in an inspiring self-love note.

To be allowed to express herself at a magazine shoot after landing the coveted title of being number one on the Maxim Hot 100 list meant so much to Taylor because as a busy working mother and wife, it is always easy and comfortable to “hide behind (her) sweats & vintage tees.” 

According to the “Wake Up Love” singer, photographer Gilles Bensimon captured her in her natural elements, the very same clothes she arrived on the shoot with shortly after dropping Junie off at school because her look was “pure.”

“So, I as you can see, I don’t have much time to be and feel sexy. This particular day was dope because it made me see another side of myself,” she wrote. “I had just dropped JUNIE off at school before heading straight to the shoot; sweatpants a beanie and an army jacket.”

She shares daughters Iman (Junie), 5, and Rue, who was born last September, with her husband, basketball player Iman Shumpert, per USA Today.

“Embrace and love yourselves for who & what you are because only the purest heart shines through. Thank you @maximmag I am truly honored to have graced the cover,” she added.

“I say all of this to say in the true words of Audrey Hepburn… ‘The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul,’” Taylor continued in her caption which is basically an ode to self-love and acceptance.

“‘It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.’ Embrace and love yourselves for who & what you are because only the purest heart shines through” she concluded and expressed her gratitude to Maxim for the honor conferred on her.

Megan Thee Stallion, Jennifer Lopez, Mia Kang, Irina Shayk, and Eliza Gonzalez are the few of the amazing women who also made the list this year.

The multi-hyphenate entertainer announced her retirement from music last year. She will now focus on acting and directing. Taylor recently starred in the comedy sequel Coming 2 America, where she played Bopoto Izzi, the daughter of General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) alongside Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall.

She is also putting her great fashion sense to work as the creative director of Fashion for PrettyLittleThing, Page Six reports.