Kysre Gondrezick is HelloBeautiful’s latest cover star.

During her interview with the outlet, Gondrezick opened up about growing up in a basketball family, facing high expectations due to her All-Star status. She also talked about the reality of facing public scrutiny, with some fans doubting her athletic ability and interests outside of the game due to her looks.

“Women get sexualized all the time, whether it’s in the workplace, on social media, or just walking down the street. God created us to be beautiful, and with that comes power,” Gondrezick says. “And when you’re talented beyond your beauty, when you have depth, that can be intimidating.”

She also spoke about being drafted after the passing of her father, who was in the NBA.

“I was incredibly grateful,” she says. “That’s when I truly realized there was a higher power in control of my journey.” Drafted fourth overall to the Indiana Fever, virtually, from home during the COVID year, she remembers feeling a sense of completion. “I felt like I had proven everything my dad wanted me to do before my senior year. So when the season ended, I knew my time there had run its course, and I had to trust being drafted.”

“I know that I’m operating in something bigger than me,” she continued. “My purpose is much more expansive than the cost of me trying to control a surface-level lifestyle for myself or for someone else. It’s bigger than the game. It’s bigger than the pictures. It’s bigger than the beauty.”

On responding to criticism:

“The validation I need doesn’t come from anyone else,” Kysre said. “I’m glad they’re paying attention, and hopefully I can give them something meaningful to pay attention to outside of that. But if that’s always what ignites the conversation, I don’t see anything wrong with it. At the end of the day, I’m just a girl.”

Gondrezick also opened up about covering Playboy, which was actually a dream of hers.

“When I first saw Playboy magazine as a little girl—I probably shouldn’t have—I came across one and saw a woman on the cover, and I was just enamored with her. I always wondered, would I be beautiful like that?” she recalls. “Twenty years later, I look up, and that woman is now me.”

“It was about breaking free from that level of control, people voicing their opinions about who they think I am based on what they see. I knew that if I could push through that, I’d be able to endure anything,” she says. In the end, there was one element that grounded her resolve. “Well, I like to do historical things,” she says.

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