Swedish Siren Elsa Hosk On What It Takes To Be An Angel

Swedish siren Elsa Hosk on what it takes to be an Angel.

- Photos by Sante D'Orazio

MAXIM Magazine interviews February’s cover girl. The athletic training of Elsa Hosk, a former pro basketball player in Sweden, is apparent when she is in front of the camera: the intense focus, the commanding way her body performs, the transcendent magic of being fully in the moment. Hosk is warm and exuberant, an adventurous free spirit with a high level of physical prowess and discipline. She knows what it’s like to be knocked down and get back up again—and the knocks have only made her stronger. She thinks like a warrior and looks like a Nordic angel. She is, undeniably, a force.

You were born in Sweden. What was it like to grow up in a country that is mostly dark many months of the year?

Growing up like that, you don’t know anything different, so I guess you get used to it as a kid. It’s pretty intense now when I go back to Sweden after living in New York for seven years. The winters are so dark, you get to work in the dark and leave work in the dark—it can get pretty depressing. But on the other side of that, we have these beautiful summers where the light stays all day and all night. Swedish people live for the summer—it transforms everyone. I don’t want to miss having a Swedish summer vacation for as long as I live. It’s my favorite thing in the world.

What are your best childhood memories?

Being done with school in the summer. Flying out of the classroom, knowing you have three months of freedom ahead of you. Going out to the archipelago in my family’s old boat, then living on this little island called Utö for the rest of the summer. Chasing after my older brother and smelling my mom’s fresh baked cinnamon buns...aah!