Carline is an advocate for women's empowerment and environmental issues, such as plastic pollution and its effects. She is a passionate writer who wants to make a difference.
Ashley Graham is a plus-size supermodel who continues to impress us by embracing and promoting body positivity.
Days after her pregnancy announcement, she shared a very intimate and up-close image of her pregnant body. Showing stretch marks on her stomach and her thighs, breasts hanging over the folds of her belly and her thighs with a caption that says “same same but a little different.”
Some people would call this an “unflattering photo” but this is as real as it gets; the real look of becoming a mother up-close.
Photo Credit: @ashleygraham – Instagram
The post gathered 1.3 million likes with people telling her the post made them love themselves more. Ashley Graham chose to show the real side of pregnancy, specifically its non-glamorous side, contradictory to what Hollywood portrays.
Her post is showing women all over the world that it’s okay to be human, which is imperfect. Ashley embraces her pregnancy and everything that comes with it.
In short, she is breaking the norm and not jumping on the bandwagon with the typical celebrity nude pregnancy photos where they look like goddesses from a movie, often airbrushed to perfection and not a stretch mark in sight.
From Demi Moore to Beyonce countless celebrities have done the nude pregnancy photoshoot.
Ashley Graham’s advocacy
Graham has been vocal on battling unrealistic beauty standards. She is a “body activist.” A lot of her Instagram photos she posted has the hashtag #BeautyBeyondSize.
In 2015, she gave a popular TEDx Talk about her encounters on the modeling industry and her struggles with the label “plus-size model.”
Ashley continues to inspire teens and give talks about body image and women empowerment.
She also had a podcast named “Pretty Big Deal” where she had celebrity guests and they had conversations about culture, beauty, business and owning who you are. It was a phenomenal hit.
Photo Credit: @ashleygraham – Instagram
Now the pregnant Ashley Graham just widened her usual audience. Pregnant women all over the world are praising her for keeping it real when she posted her unfiltered nude pregnancy photo.
Comments include:
“This made me love myself a little bit more today! Thank you for your willingness to be so vulnerable. Most women couldn’t do this. I applaud you. You make me feel not so alone.”
“I just want to say thank you. I never took pictures every week for my first pregnancy, never felt pretty enough to be pregnant being a size 18. But your photos remind me that all pregnant bodies should be celebrated. I’ll take all the photos next time around ?”
Graham just proved that beauty comes in many shapes and sizes and that pregnancy, with all its side effects, flaws, folds, stretch marks and all, should be embraced and not hidden.
She also posts candid unfiltered photos of her without the celebrity glitz and glamour which makes her uber-relatable.
Graham’s pregnancy body attitude shows us that celebrities like her are just like us ordinary people, and her actions make us appreciate ourselves more. Some commenters wrote that their body looks exactly like hers but they never had the courage to flaunt it.
If you feel ashamed of your flaws, don’t. We are human, we get to have flaws. When you learn to love yourself and everything that comes with it, you won’t feel inadequate no matter what other people say about you.
The confidence, self-love, and courage of Graham is truly endearing and empowering for women. In a world full of photoshop and filtered photos, there’s Ashley Graham reminding us to embrace our bodies, our size, our skin color. Unfiltered.
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