Livvy Dunne Posts Vacation Bikini Snaps, Rails NYT Over ‘Sex Sells’ Photoshoot [WATCH]

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne, former LSU gymnast and current Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model, spent time together in Montauk during Major League Baseball’s All-Star break this week.

The couple used the brief mid-season pause to relax along with their dog, Roux.

Dunne, 22, shared several photos on social media showing her and Skenes enjoying the beach.

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While the 23-year-old Skenes is currently regarded as one of the most talented young pitchers in Major League Baseball, Dunne has also remained in the spotlight through her modeling work and growing media profile.

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In a recent appearance on the What’s Your Story? podcast, Dunne revisited her public dispute with The New York Times over a 2022 feature story and photoshoot conducted during her time at LSU.

“It all started because of a hit piece [that] the New York Times wrote about me,” Dunne said during the interview.

“They came to our gymnastics facility at LSU, took pictures of me. They said, ‘wear your team-issued attire, put on a leotard,’ and they took a picture of me standing in front of the beam like any gymnast would and then they blew it up on the screen and put the headline, ‘Sex Sells.’”

“Okay well, you just came into the facility and took pictures of me in our team-issued attire and blew it up on a screen. So I was like, well this is crazy,” Dunne said.

“And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that.”

In response to the article, Dunne posted the same image on her Instagram story with a caption directed at the outlet.

“‘@ The New York Times, is this too much?’ Because, come on, you know what you’re doing,” she said.

“You just put a picture of me in a leotard for clicks and then caption it ‘Sex Sells.’”

Dunne said the public supported her response. “People loved that. They were like this is so great because no, it’s not too much. You’re in your team-issued attire, which is a leotard for gymnasts.”

The attention from the social media post led to a new opportunity.

“So, Sports Illustrated reached out to my agent. I was so excited about that,” Dunne said.

“That was always a dream of mine. There’s some legends and some amazing athletes that have been in Sports Illustrated.”

In May, Dunne was named one of the four cover stars for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s 2025 edition.

Livvy Dunne performs a split during Sports Illustrated runway show
pic.twitter.com/ZsrlkBUP6e

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) June 1, 2025

It was her third appearance in the publication after previous features in earlier editions.

Over her five years at LSU, Dunne became the most-followed female college athlete in the country, accumulating over 13 million combined followers across Instagram and TikTok.

Her NIL (name, image, and likeness) valuation reached $4.1 million by the end of her college career.

With her gymnastics career now concluded, Dunne has attended numerous Pirates games to support Skenes, who was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

While Skenes has received national attention for his pitching performances, the Pirates continue to struggle in the standings.

The team enters the second half of the 2025 season with a record of 29-59, placing them at the bottom of the National League Central division, trailing by 12 wins.

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