SAN FRANCISCO • Kate Upton has been in rocky situations before, fending off the sexual advances of Guess co-founder Paul Marciano, for example.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that things also did not go swimmingly well for the model during a 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot in October, with crew having to rescue her when strong waves swept her off-balance.

The 25-year-old was posing on top of a rock in Aruba, in the Caribbean, when she was knocked off her feet by the surging water.

Donning a chiffon skirt, Upton, who was then topless, fell, triggering a rush from members of the crew to save her.

"I really saw the vision for the photo, but as I climbed on the rock, I did look down and was like, 'this is going to end badly'," she told Sports Illustrated later.

"I saw the next wave coming and it didn't look that large from my point of view, but it must have hit the rock just right and caught on," she recalled.

"The skirt, whenever it's wet with all the tools, is very heavy, and it dragged me down. Everybody was scared, especially MJ," she said, referring to Ms MJ Day, the swimsuit issue editor.

But she put on her best professional model behaviour, got back on the rock again and wrapped up the shoot.

"I felt like I was laughing in the face of death," she said of her determination not to hold up the proceedings.

Upton has made the cover of Sports Illustrated, via its Swimsuit edition, three times, with her husband, baseball star pitcher Justin Verlander, also sharing that three-peat.