Taking Names

In the swim

Beyonce has hit another high note, claiming the coveted cover shot of this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in a yellow-and-pink bikini.

The 25-year-old singer-actress, currently co-starring in the hit film “Dreamgirls,” posed on a Florida beach in the bikini designed by House of Dereon, the fashion label she started with her mother, Tina Knowles, Associated Press reports.

The 2007 swimsuit edition continues with a music theme inside, featuring scantily clad models posing with Kanye West, Aerosmith, Kenny Chesney, Gnarls Barkley and Panic! at the Disco. A five-page spread featuring Russian Anne Vyalitsyna was shot at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland in September.

“Once the decision was made to have a music hook, one of the first settings to come up was the rock hall, because it’s such an iconic place,” Sports Illustrated spokesman Rick McCabe said. “It was a natural fit.”

Hudson makes history

In other “Dreamgirls” cover-girl news, Beyonce’s co-star Jennifer Hudson will make history when she becomes the first black singer to appear on the cover of Vogue, Internet Movie Database notes. The Oscar nominee will appear on the cover of the magazine’s annual Power Issue, due on newsstands Tuesday. She follows in the footsteps of talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and Oscar winner Halle Berry as only the third black celebrity to grace the cover of the fashion bible.

Miss Hudson, 25, was photographed by famed shutterbug Annie Leibovitz at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater.

Indecent proposal

Hey, now: The King of All Media has found his new queen.

Howard Stern — make that Howard A. Stern, the shock jock, and not the Anna Nicole Smith hanger-on — yesterday announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Beth Ostrosky.

According to E! Online, Mr. Stern, 53, said he popped the question to the 34-year-old model-actress Tuesday night. He described the R-rated romantic encounter (in uncensored detail on his Sirius Satellite Radio show, natch) wherein he insisted his betrothed strip down before he surprised her with the ring.

Miss Ostrosky initially protested but eventually disrobed — at which point, Mr. Stern produced a 5.2-carat Richie Winick diamond ring and whispered his own version of sweet nothings in her ear. “I love you,” he reportedly said. “You’re everything to me. This is so gay. … I’m asking you to spend the rest of your life with me.”

Story Continues →