Ashley Graham has accused fans aggrieved by pictures they believed showed she had lost weight of body shaming her for working out.
The Plus is Equal advocate and US size 14 model was hit by a barrage of angry comments suggesting she had succumbed to industry pressures and propagated notions of beauty by slimming down.
She has now replied in an essay concluding with a simple message: "It's my body. I call the shots."
The image that attracted such a fierce reaction showed Graham standing to the side in a white two piece and Balmain jacket.
Responding in an essay for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter newsletter, Graham highlighted how some fans were criticising her for exercising, despite the 28-year-old having actually put on weight this year.
Comments ranged from disappointment to anger. “You don’t make plus-size dollars anymore, you make backstabbing dollars” and, “You don’t love the skin you’re in, you want to conform to Hollywood, you believe being skinnier is prettier,” were two Graham highlighted in her essay.
"Having been a model for sixteen years, I know my angles, just like we all know our favourite filters and lighting and our good sides. I pick the photos I like best," writes Graham.
“No matter how many empowerment conferences, TED talks, and blog posts are out there, women keep tearing one another down over physical appearance. Body shaming isn’t just telling the big girl to cover up. It’s trying to shame me for working out.
“It’s giving ‘skinny’ a negative connotation. It’s wanting me to be plus size, or assuming I’m pregnant because of some belly bulge.”
