By: Taylor Davis
Ashley Graham did not come to Beautycon to play any games. She looked regal AF in her Bailey 44 leather Skirt and black Calvin Klein crop top when she stopped by the VH1 x ANTM booth to take some pics and talk to us about body positivity.
When we asked her what inspired her to be a voice in the body positivity movement, the new judge on the upcoming season of America’s Next Top Model, told us that she didn’t have any mainstream role models so she turned to none other than her mom instead.
“I didn’t have anybody in society who looked like me. I had my mother who never looked in the mirror and said she was ugly. She never looked in the mirror and said she was fat,” she said. “So looking in media, I never had a role model, that is why I coined the term Body Activist because at the end of the day, I need to be the role model for all the young girls who don’t have someone talking about the lumps and the bumps and the cellulite and the things that jiggle. Right? So now we need to start creating those role models for young girls.”
Graham confidently considers herself to be a body activist, but one thing she doesn’t label herself as being is plus-sized. “I don’t talk about being plus-sized,” she declared. “I talk about being a curvy woman. I don’t call myself plus-size, I think labels are divisive and I think that there’s no reason we need to start telling women who they are because of a number inside of their pants.”
Before Graham left us she also shared that her ultimate goal was to see all types of women coming together based around “their accomplishments and what they want and their goals.” She encourages everyone to “find a community and be inclusive in that community.”
Thanks for inspiring us and spreading all of your positive vibes.
Be sure to check out the next cycle of America’s Next Top Model on VH1 this December.