Ashley Graham covers the latest issue of Marie Claire, the Motherhood Issue. It’s been a minute since I’ve read an interview with Ashley, and I don’t think I’ve read anything from her since GLP-1s took over Hollywood and the larger American culture. Ashley became famous in a unique moment of body-positivity and body-inclusivity. Ashley was one of the “faces” of that movement, and she profited enormously from being a plus-sized model and all-around personality. Nowadays, she’s more lowkey – she’s the mother of three sons, and the world she helped build around the 2010s seems so far away. Ashley spoke about that and more with Marie Claire, including some TMI about childbirth and motherhood which really grossed me out. Some highlights:
Unmedicated labor: “There’s nothing gorgeous about it. It’s the worst pain you’ll ever feel in your life. When it starts coming, it doesn’t get any better; it gets worse. Your mindset going into the day is really the majority of it. If you tell yourself you can do it, you can do it…All these women did it before. Your sister did it, your mother did it, your aunties did it. You’re gonna be fine…that was the mentality I had.”
She doesn’t want her sons online: “There’s just some things to me that are so sacred. We live in such an oversharing world…I feel like I’ve shared a lot of my life with so many people, [and] there’s three little things that I don’t want to share and they’re called Isaac, Roman, and Malachi.” She went “full throttle” on social media when her career began, but she says the world, or at least the scary realities she now pays attention to, has changed since—AI; online predators who target kids or steal identities. So she stands her ground no matter how much Isaac craves the spotlight. When he grows up he wants to be a chef with a “menuless restaurant” and be on Broadway; a career inspired after seeing his mom star as Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2025. “He’s the one that’s like on the fireplace mantle with the microphone like giving us the whole performance,” she says. “His favorite is anything from Aladdin.”
Her body after two pregnancies: “I’m living in a different body and it’s been hard to get to know her. 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. I was as fit as I could be in 2019 when I got pregnant…I’m still trying to get to that, but I’ve had to get over it in my head that I’ll look like I did in my late 20s, early 30s. She’s gone. Let’s focus on the new girl. That has been like the last four years of my conversation in my head.”
The era of GLP-1s and the return of thinnification culture: “It’s really disheartening. There was a pendulum that swung that was so body acceptance, positivity, everybody be who they want to be. And 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.” Still, Graham resists the urge to consider it a total backslide. In her nearly three decades in the industry, she says she’s “seen more movement for plus-size women than some people give the whole industry credit for.” And fashion, she adds, has always been trend obsessed: “It goes with the times—and GLP-1s are a time…I know that there are and there’s gonna still be women who are considered plus size forever. This drug isn’t going to wipe out a whole statistic of women.”
The plus-sized community is still here: “Why would I stop now and why would I get angry about the work I’ve done?…I put my head down and I focus on the women we’ve built the community with…. There’s so many [plus size influencers and creators]…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?’”
She’s both right and wrong – plus-sized women will always exist, curvy women will always exist, there will always be women who struggle with their weight and struggle with body image. Those women aren’t going away, but those women are not going to be platformed, visible and culturally embraced in the same way they were a decade ago. I think people should do what they want as far GLP-1s, and god knows, those drugs have been a literal lifesaver for many people. But yeah… the culture around body inclusivity has changed significantly in just a short time. Ashley clearly thinks it’s a phase and that at some point, the GLP-1 Era will be over. I’m not so sure.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Marie Claire.
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- Ashley Graham at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party (98th Annual Academy Awards) Hosted By Mark Guiducci held at the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at 5905 Wilshire Blvd on March 15, 2026 in Museum Row, Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 1083465889, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ashley Graham, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- MUSEUM ROW, MIRACLE MILE, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – MARCH 15: Ashley Graham arrives at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party (98th Annual Academy Awards) Hosted By Mark Guiducci held at the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at 5905 Wilshire Blvd on March 15, 2026 in Museum Row, Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 1083791003, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ashley Graham, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
Fat acceptance was begrudgingly accepting the fact that you couldn’t cut down the food noise. Now, you can. Once Lizzo got into it, it was all over.
Gawd this is so complicated. GLP-1s are literal life savers for so many people, and wait til menopause if you think they’re “cheating”‘at weight loss.
But even after a year on them and 40 pound weight loss, I don’t think I’ll ever again have the cute little figure I had even as recently as 40. I work out daily and still see the pudge around the middle. So yeah body acceptance is still extremely important and we must continue to combat an increasingly toxic culture of women doing dramatic and harmful things to achieve unrealistic body standards. But you’ll take these little pills from my cold, dead hands.
@mightmolly, agree!
A friend of mine, mid 30s with a family that had terrible obesity issues was really helped by this. She was not crazy over weight, but her doctor & her agreed that this was the best place for to be. She lost a lot of weight, but feels good.
Im almost 50, have been on it for about a year and can’t pass 30 lbs. And that’s ok for now, its still 30 lbs that Im not carrying around. Shutting down food noise for me is real, so Im really happy about that.
People are going to bitch about it being an easy way out, but its so much more than that.
I agree – it’s been wonderfully helpful for me in losing weight I just couldn’t shift after menopause hit. I’ve lost 15lbs so far and for the first time in years, I don’t dislike what I see in the mirror because I am seeing positive change.
I work out now not to lose weight but because I want to be an active and healthy senior. It’s helped me mentally and physically.
I don’t think it is that complicated. I think it’s great and appropriate for the vast majority of the people who take the medication. I think the only thing that gets complicated is the celebs taking the medication to go from thin to emaciated.
I am more curious to see where we will go as a culture regarding all of the horrific plastic surgery that is happening. Will we continue to look less and less human? Will there ever be a limit to what people are willing to do to their bodies? Will women ever get to be good enough just as they are?
I was Ashley’s size, roughly an 18-20 from my mid-late 30s to my mid 40s. I’m 5 ft 9, so my build was similar to hers…it takes a toll. While my numbers were never off (cholesterol, sugar, bp), I had low energy and my joints ached. Started a glp-1 in August, out of pocket of course, and am down 50 lbs. My energy is back, I can go up stairs without my knees aching, I feel great. I’m not puffy and bloated, I can’t say enough good things about them.
@JJP – Congratulations! And thank you for mentioning the other benefits. My blood pressure was way up and medication was imminent. But I tried this route instead and my BP is now in a healthy range. It’s like I took this pill (well, injection) instead of that pill and got multiple results instead of just one. Oh, I know I’m facing along road of maintenance, but I’m so much better off than where I was a year ago.
Me too. I looked a lot like Ashley, I think a little thinner….then I took Ozempic and lost 80 pounds. I’m never going back. Being normal sized instead of plus sized is such a relief.
FWIW, though, I have numerous health problems and none of them are any better. Weight is hardly the only factor in our health.
Also, she’s right about childbirth being the worst pain you’ve ever felt. In fact, I had no idea that anything could hurt that much! I opted for medication because that’s how I roll, but they couldn’t find the anesthesiologist and I ran out….aw jeez. My second time I made sure the sweet sweet pain relief kept rolling along.
@harriet As someone who’s gone thru natural childbirth three times, I can state that it wasn’t the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I had 2 ectopic pregnancy’s, one of which the fallopian tube ruptured…that was the worst pain I have experienced.
I followed her for years. I genuinely believed she went down the glp route maybe 5 years ago? She lost loads of weight quickly. I don’t believe any celebrity about their eating disorders, I stopped following her when she was clearly on drugs for weight while stuffing her face with food and wine for clicks on insta. .sorry bitch, grow up and don’t lie. She was obviously a liar. As a plus size woman, I was upset, I felt let down. Stuffing your face with food whilst being the smallest you’ve been. You’re just lying. Cool. I don’t have to support
My father struggled with his weight for over 30 years, and he died at age 68 due to obesity-related illnesses. Being Ashley’s size can kill you, and the embrace of the fat body sucked, in my opinion. Fat bodies are unattractive, that’s just factual. There’s a middle road in this stuff where society embraces normal looking people and promotes exercise and diet in a healthy way and does not put anorexics nor fatties on a pedestal. Both extremes (super thin/super fat) are terrible and dangerous. After 40, it is so hard for women to lose weight. Perimenopause and menopause cause mid-section weight gain that is nearly impossible to lose without GLP-1s or plastic surgery. Period. I am 15 pounds down at age 45 thanks to the lowest dosage of tirzepatide and I’m loving it!
From what I read,
Gen Z is anti-fat and anti-aging and if so, this latest won’t go away anytime soon…it barely did anyway. The so-called acceptance era was very brief…kinda like MeToo.
I’m not big on applying personality traits to entire generations, but GenZ has been screwed in so many ways. I can believe they find escape in things they feel like they can control, like thinness. It’s a well documented trauma response.
This may be an unpopular opinion but if you lose weight for any reason other than your health, you’re participating in and perpetuating the anti-fat culture. Five or ten pounds for one person is not the same as a hundred pounds for someone else. Also, I’m not sure it’s productive to bundle weight and ageism together.
Ashley is lovely.