Ashley Graham said she finds the rise of weight loss drugs – and impact it has on the body positivity movement – ‘really disheartening.’
‘There was a pendulum that swung that was so body acceptance, positivity, everybody be who they want to be,’ the Lincoln, Nebraska native, 38, told Marie Claire on the topic.
Graham, who was Sports Illustrated’s first-ever plus-size cover girl, said that the shift in beauty standards after adjusting to the impact of weight loss drugs marks a step backward for society.
‘Now it’s going back this whole opposite way that feels like a smack in the face to the women who have felt like they’ve had a voice,’ she told the magazine.
The supermodel, who has more than 21 million followers on Instagram, said that the rapid spread of the use of GLP-1s (such as Ozempic) has resulted in thinner models on runways in the fashion industry.
‘It goes with the times – and GLP-1s are a time,’ she said. ‘I know that there are and there’s gonna still be women who are considered plus-size forever.’
Supermodel Ashley Graham, 38, said she finds the rise of weight loss drugs – and impact it has on the body positivity movement – ‘really disheartening.’ Pictured Friday in NYC
Graham predicted that ‘this drug isn’t going to wipe out a whole statistic of women.’
The supermodel said social media trends indicated the body positivity movement was still headed in the right direction, with influencers and creators of all sizes rising in relevance.
‘There’s so many,’ Graham said. ‘They’re all over the place with their sizes and their proportions and how they look and how they’re relatable. And to me, that’s the coolest part about all of this.
‘Seeing that these girls, who were raised on social media at such a young age are now coming in and they have a platform to say to the younger generation, “Be yourself, be who you want to be. If you have cellulite, who cares?”‘
Graham said she was ‘putting so much of [her] creative power behind’ making fashions available to women of all body types via her JCPenney clothing line.
‘It’s incredibly important to continue to advocate for women of all shapes, all sizes, and all backgrounds to have clothes that fit … to have people who don’t have confidence, have confidence in themselves,’ Graham told the publication.
She said that in designing the line, she wasn’t necessarily focused on a specific body type.
‘I also don’t think that my community is just curvy women,’ Graham said. ‘I think it’s all kinds of women because, really, confidence at the end of the day, it doesn’t discriminate.’
Graham, who has more than 21 million followers on Instagram, pictured April 22 in LA
Graham is mother to three kids with husband Justin Ervin. Pictured Saturday in NYC
Graham is mother to three sons with husband Justin Ervin – Isaac, six, and twins Malachi and Roman, four.
She spoke to the outlet of the adjustments she’s made regarding beauty standards after becoming a mom.
‘I’m living in a different body and it’s been hard to get to know her,’ Graham told the outlet. ‘I can’t say that I can look in the mirror and be like, “I love you.” It’s not that for me. It’s that, “Wow, I made some children.”‘
The model said she was ‘was as fit as [she] could be in 2019 when [she] got pregnant’ and ‘was still trying to get to that,’ but with realistic adjustments amid the life changes.
‘I’ve had to get over it in my head that I’ll look like I did in my late 20s, early 30s,’ the supermodel said. ‘She’s gone. Let’s focus on the new girl. That has been like the last four years of my conversation in my head.’
