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Ashley Graham Tackles Snapback Culture 1 Instagram Post at a Time, and We’re So Grateful
Getty / Kirstin Sinclair
Ashley Graham has always been at the forefront of the body-neutrality movement, which is why it’s so exciting to witness her journey through motherhood.
Since becoming a mom, the supermodel has blessed us with an unfiltered look at her postpartum life – from tummy selfies to postpartum hair loss. Graham frequently shares candid posts about life with 3-year-old son Isaac and 1-year-old twins Malachi and Roman, whom she shares with her husband, Justin Ervin.
When asked why she feels compelled to be so vulnerable online about the postpartum experience, Graham told POPSUGAR, “I felt like I have such a big following and I have shared so much up until this part of my life that I needed to share this as well, to normalize so much that happens to our bodies . . . and how things just sometimes don’t go back to normal.”
Graham approaches the postpartum experience with such strength and compassion. “I tell myself that I am a warrior for carrying and birthing my babies, for surviving the hemorrhage, for being a mother to my three boys, and yet also still struggling with the transformation of my body,” Graham wrote in a personal essay for Glamour in May 2022.
Her outlook on postpartum bodies is refreshing and much appreciated by the millions of social media followers who often comment on her posts, expressing their gratitude for sharing a “real postpartum experience.”
Ahead, enjoy every instance that Graham has normalized postpartum bodies, spoke out against mom-shamers, and reminded us that mothers are amazing.
Instagram User Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham Shows Appreciation For Her "Very Different" Postpartum Tummy
On Nov. 2, 2022, the supermodel and mother of three shared an unfiltered look at her “new tummy” after welcoming twins 10 months earlier. “Hi new tummy. You look very different from what I’m use to,” she wrote over an Instagram Stories selfie of her bare stomach on display, stretch marks and all. She concluded with a note of gratitude, adding, “But I do appreciate you” alongside a heart-hands emoji.
Kirstin Sinclair / Getty / Hippolyte Petit
Ashley Graham Reflects on Giving Birth to Twins
In a deeply personal essay penned for Glamour on May 20, Graham candidly reflected on her experience with giving birth to twins and learning to love her postpartum body.
“Like so many women, what I went through with childbirth has reshaped my relationship with my body – and I say this knowing that I am the person who has been shouting from the rooftops to you all, ‘Love the skin you’re in,'” she says. “Yet for me, the births of all my three children threw a lot of that out of the window.”
Later in her letter, Graham described the immense stress she felt over being expected to “snap back” after giving birth. “I have always fought against unfair and unrealistic standards and yet, if I am being completely honest, here I was, expecting myself to snap back. And fast,” she said. “I was like, ‘You don’t understand. I used to be a sex symbol, and now I am a baby-making machine and I have stretch marks up to my belly button. What the eff is happening?’ Then one day I just stopped and thought, ‘Screw it, this is my life.'”