Zitat des Tages von Ashley Graham:
I really, truly believe beauty is beyond size.
A lot of bodybuilders have high BMIs. It's not an indication of your overall health. Like, why put more standards on women saying there's a maximum BMI? I just think we need to be healthy, and I am.
I was called the girl that was 'pretty for a big girl,' 'the fat model.'
I dated all the wrong men. I thought I could feel appreciated in my body through guys.
When I post a photo from a 'good angle,' I receive criticism for looking smaller and selling out. When I post photos showing my cellulite, stretch marks, and rolls, I'm accused of promoting obesity.
The biggest misconception is that the purpose of going to the gym is to change your body. We should be working out to be healthy.
This confidence is not something that happens overnight. I have been working on it for a long time. I look in the mirror and do affirmations: 'You are bold. You are brilliant. You are beautiful.' If my lower pooch is really popping out that day, I look at it and say, 'Pooch, you are cute!'
I believe that we're all here for a purpose and that one of my biggest ones is to help people understand that they're beautiful.
As hard as it is, owning who you are and knowing what you want is the only sure path to affirmation... I want women to know they can get out of any situation if they return to their core source of strength: themselves.
'A New Model' is saying that women should be confident in who they are and that they can be their own role models.
'Sports Illustrated' decided to have curvy women not only in their magazine but on the cover of their magazine. Now, that means size diversity is here, and it's real, and it's not a trend.
I really believe that parents need to know they are shaping the future of their children.
I put myself out there, trying to prove that beauty is beyond size. It was risky, sure, but what I risked in terms of personal pride was nothing in comparison to what I was rewarded in terms of personal fulfillment.
I don't think guys judge curvy women as much as women do. It shocks me how catty some women can be. In my whole life, I only had one guy break up with me over weight.
When you're given an 'SI' cover, and you take advantage of it, you can conquer the world. Look at Chrissy Teigen. Look at Tyra Banks. Look at Kathy Ireland.
Words have power, and if you are going to use your words negatively, then that is exactly what is going to happen in your life.
The really hard moment was when my dad said, 'Honey, if an agent is telling you to lose weight, then maybe you should lose weight.' I was 15, standing in our living room, having a moment I will never forget. I never had a parent tell me to lose weight, and it hurt.
I used to be bound by people who placed limits on what they thought I could do. Through that, I learned that if you want something, you have to be the one to go out and do it. If you don't ask for something, you're not going to get it.
I wasn't put on the cover of 'Sports Illustrated' as a plus-size model; I was put on the cover of 'Sports Illustrated' as a model, as a rookie, as Ashley Graham.
Too fat, too thin, too loud, too quiet - I was never going to fit the standards others created for me. Instead of complying, I protested.
I'm a confident woman with thick skin, and as a model in the public eye, I'm conditioned to accept criticism.
To some, I'm too curvy. To others, I'm too tall, too busty, too loud, and, now, too small - too much, but at the same time not enough.
I work out not to lose weight but to maintain my good health. And anyway, if I did want to lose weight, it would be no one's decision but my own.
I remember thinking, 'If I don't love the woman that I look at in the mirror, I am never going to be successful.' That was the moment I had to start convincing myself to look in the mirror and start saying, 'I love you.'
I have been so blessed not only to talk about things that I want to talk about in my industry, but also to have a platform - and people want to hear about it.
There's something to be said about just being vulnerable. Every woman has gone through something in her life that has been an image issue, or it has been something where somebody told her she's not good enough. And every woman can relate to that.
As women gain weight, they start judging themselves. But who cares! Embrace what you have. Say, 'Belly, you might be poking out today, but I'm going to choose to love you and nurture you.'
What you see is what you get. I don't change who I am from public to private.
I had so many agents tell me that at size 18, I would never work or work again. I heard, 'Go home and lose some weight.'
It doesn't matter what size your hips are when you measure them. It's about, 'Do you feel good and healthy in those hips?'
People called me 'cottage cheese thighs' all through school.
My fans are incredible. Don't you dare talk bad about me on my Instagram, because my fans will come out, and they will eat you alive.
For so long, I have been an outsider because of my size. And I think that fashion has always, in some way, catered to celebrities or to a thinner idealistic model.
'Sexy' is a state of mind, and it can come in all shapes and sizes. It is different for every person.
I love blocking people. I'm not afraid to block anybody.
I always say, 'Be anxious for nothing,' because if this is my social media, if this is a platform for me to really get the word out and get my brand out, then why am I gonna be anxious about it?
