Ashley Graham has spoken out about accepting her post-pregnancy figure, saying she has been “on a journey” to become “okay” with her new shape.
The model, who is an outspoken advocate for body positivity, gave birth to her first child, Isaac, in January 2020.
She reflected on the physical and mental changes she experienced in the latest issue of Porter magazine, Net-a-Porter’s digital title.
“In the beginning, I was like, an alien is taking over my body and I am getting larger and larger by the moment,” she said of her pregnancy.
“Then this alien popped out and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love you.’ And you just don’t care. But then Covid hit, and all the gyms shut down, and I’m living with my mom, eating cinnamon rolls every day,” she laughed.
“People will tell you this lie when you get pregnant, which is that the weight falls off when you breastfeed. But it’s a lie! I’ve had to go through a different body journey, post-pregnancy – just understanding her and being OK with her,” she said.
As well as making time for family, Graham said that becoming a mother had “changed everything” for her.
“I’ve had a lot more calmness and peace in my life since he [Isaac] got here because it’s like, why sweat the small stuff?
“I’ve always kind of lived bravely and fearlessly, but through my home birth and raising him in this pandemic, it’s like, ‘oh yeah, I guess I am pretty fearless’. It just feels good,” she said.
The 33-year-old also clarified her intentions when it came to sharing pictures with her 12.3 million Instagram followers.
“I don’t post myself half-naked to get the likes,” she said. “I post myself half-naked so that someone who’s 10 years younger than me knows that that side butt, that hip dip – that’s not abnormal to have.”
In 2020, Graham responded to people who disagreed with her describing herself as “big”, explaining that people shouldn’t associate the word with negativity.
The comments followed a nude bathroom selfie, which she captioned: “nakie big girl”.
She went on to clarify that the term “big” might be a positive thing for some people, saying “if you look at ‘big’ as a positive or love then you can see it like I do”.
