Livvy Dunne Slams Prominent Newspaper For 'Crazy' Behavior

"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,'" Dunne alleged.

"OK, 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, 'OK, well, this is crazy.' And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that."

Dunne went on to add how she mocked the newspaper of record on social media for its decision which ultimately led to her iconic swimsuit spread for Sports Illustrated.

"I decided I was going to put that same picture that they posted and captioned 'sex sells' on my Instagram story and write 'at The New York Times, is this too much?' Because, come on, you know what you're doing. You just put a picture of me in a leotard for clicks and then caption it 'sex sells,'" she said. 

"... There was a lot of positive feedback from that. So, Sports Illustrated reached out to my agent. I was so excited about that. That was always a dream of mine. There's some legends and some amazing athletes that have been in Sports Illustrated."

Dunne's popularity on social media has allowed her to keep the cash flow coming despite no longer taking the mat for the Tigers. Now the influencer's content centers around her various brand partnerships and high-profile relationship with Pirates ace Paul Skenes.