Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham has always been vocal against body-shaming. She has given speeches about body acceptance and body image, in schools. She has supported the ‘Health at Every Size Movement’ and has been part of charitable work in South Africa with the ‘Themba Foundation.’

As her initial relationships were mostly sex-based, Ashley often talks about the drawbacks of such overtly sexual relationships. She claims that when she finally found the right man, she abstained from having sex until they got married. She met Justin Ervin, a videographer, in a church. They dated for a while before getting married in 2010.

Ashley Graham was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 30, 1987. Her father is a database marketer, and her mother is a homemaker. Ashley grew up with her two younger sisters. Ashley was full-figured even as a kid. Puberty hit her when she was in fourth grade, and that made her experience a lot of sexual abuse.

She had a troubled relationship with her father. She was also a victim of body-shaming in school. She was bullied quite a lot and was called “thunder thighs” due to her oversized thighs.

Ashley soon developed issues due to the abuse she faced in school. She was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. By the time she was 14 years old, older men had begun making sexual advances toward her. Ashley’s mother became very cautious about these incidents. At one point, she even paid Ashley’s younger sisters to scream out “Mom! Mom!” every time they saw an older man approaching Ashley.

Although she resisted any sexual contact at a young age, Ashley became quite liberal about sex as she grew older. This caused her further psychological issues.

She was spotted by a talent agent at a local mall in Nebraska when she was 12 years old. The agent suggested that her mother send some of Ashley’s photos to a modeling agency. This was the beginning of Ashley’s modeling career. She appeared in numerous magazines and billboards before she graduated from ‘Lincoln Southwest High School’ in 2005. She soon arrived in New York to work as a full-time model.

In the early stages of her modeling career, she faced trouble landing jobs due to her unconventional body structure. For the first few years, she received offers to feature as a catalogue girl and was told that she would never be able to go beyond that. She soon got an offer from ‘Ford Models.’ Unfortunately, ‘Ford’ soon shut down their “plus-size” division soon after. This was a major blow to Ashley, and she then joined ‘IMG,’ another top modeling agency.

Soon, her career picked up pace. One of her first major breaks came her way in 2007, when she was profiled by Sally Singer of ‘Vogue’ magazine. In 2009, she appeared in the ‘Glamour’ editorial titled ‘These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size.’ The campaign featured her alongside other popular plus-size models, such as Kate Dillon Levin, Amy Lemons, Jennie Runk, and Anansa Sims.

She made news again when she appeared in a controversial advertisement for ‘Lane Bryant,’ which was later banned in many countries. By the time it had been taken off from ‘YouTube,’ the commercial had been watched by more than 800 thousand viewers. The commercial was covered by leading American publications such as the ‘New York Post’ and ‘The Huffington Post.’

When the controversy went out of control, she made an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’ to address the issue. The show made her a household name in the US and people appreciated her for being confident about her body, despite being body-shamed by trolls on social media.

In 2010, she made an appearance in the editorial of ‘Bust’ magazine. She then became part of a number of ‘Levi’s’ and ‘Marina Rinaldi’ campaigns. Some of her most notable works have been for ‘Addition Elle,’ ‘Bloomingdale’s,’ ‘Nordstrom,’ and ‘Target.’ In 2012, she appeared on massive billboards for ‘Lane Bryant’ in New York.