Kenza Fourati

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, 2011 Fourati appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011. "We are at a point now in Tunisia where we are free. We should be able to portray art like this if we want to, as the extremists are allowed to express themselves, too. That is a debate that we want to create, but it must be a peaceful one."

As the first Arab Muslim model to be featured in Sports Illustrated, she raised debates in Tunisian society and abroad about what it means to be Muslim and about variety within the religion.

Tunivisions cover, August 2011

In August 2011, during the Muslim month of Ramadhan, Fourati appeared in a bikini and body paint on the cover of Tunivisions, which created controversy. In a 2012 interview, Fourati was critical of the magazine, saying: "Last year I shot a cover for a magazine wearing a bikini and my body was covered by a Victor Hugo poem. I loved the idea and the poem preaching love and tolerance, but the magazine edited it in an aggressively provocative way and it delivered the wrong message. So yes, that would be the only thing I would do differently. I was too naive back then."

Asked about her experience living in France, Fourati said: "My grandmother is French so I was there often. I went to the French lycee (school) in Tunisia so I feel French as well. But when I moved there to live, the experience was different. I remember people suggesting to me that I shouldn't say I was from Tunisia! I found that very shocking at the time. I thought, "Why would anyone ever suggest that?" I am proud of where I come from. I didn't think twice about changing my name so I could work more."

On 26 April 2016, Fourati married Ayman Mohyeldin, a television journalist for NBC News, in an intimate ceremony in his home state of Georgia. She shared photos from her wedding day on social media. Fourati wore an ivory bridal burnous over an ivory Balenciaga mini-dress for the ceremony in Marietta, Georgia. For photos taken in Savannah, Georgia, Fourati wore a custom Houghton "Moss" Gown.

Fourati revealed in a "Vogue Arabia" interview that she was expecting her first child with Mohyeldin, in early 2017. Their daughter, Dora, was born in New York on 12 March 2017.