The Russian woman who catapulted to Internet fame over the weekend when she tweeted a photo of herself recreating supermodel Kate Upton's 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover is not really a mail-order bride, contrary to popular belief.
The woman who bears a striking resemblance to Upton is 22-year-old Ania (she declined to give her last name), who hails from Moscow and Vancouver, according to her Twitter account. On Sunday, she tweeted a picture of herself wearing nothing but an unzipped fur-trimmed parka, much like Upton's cover photo.
Urgent: Should Obama Ban Guns? Vote in Poll
Within hours, Upton herself had retweeted the photo with the note, "amazing!"
A handful of media outlets picked up the Kate Upton look-alike story but misinterpreted Ania's Twitter bio.
"My twitter bio says 'Mail order bride in training' and people took that quite seriously, even though it’s a total joke," Ania said in an interview with Sport's Illustrated's new Swim Daily blog. "I'm getting a lot of marriage proposals."
The bio now says, "Not actually a mail order bride."
Ania, a student, said she admires Upton for breaking the stereotype that women have to be rail-thin.
"I've been told I look like her in the past, but when the SI issue came out and she was wearing the same jacket that is hanging in my closet, I knew it had to be done," Ania told Swim Daily.
Upton made headlines recently for her Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl ad, which featured the 20-year-old blowing soapsuds while high school football players washed her new 2014 CLR car.
Critics bashed the commercial, calling it "classless."
"Jesus, Mercedes. That is pathetic," one woman wrote on Facebook. "Whoever came up with this and whoever signed off on it should be fired. Damn shame that most car purchasing decisions are made by women, and you just flipped off that demographic. I guess your cars are so bad that you can't sell them based on their own merits."
Editor's Note: Use This Single Loophole to Pay Zero Taxes. See Video
Related stories:
Super Bowl 2013 Ads: The Best and Worst
Super Bowl Ads Court Controversy, Get Pre-Game Playoff
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.