New mom Ashley Graham is celebrating her postpartum physique.
“When I look at my new stretch marks and the changes that my body went through, it reminds me that, as women, we’re all superheroes,” the 32-year-old supermodel — who in January gave birth to son Isaac, her first child with husband Justin Ervin — told Elle for the magazine’s first-ever digital issue.
“I’m always reminded that our bodies were built to do this. It’s such a beautiful thing to be able to give birth, but I didn’t realize it until afterward. Before I was even pregnant, that was always my hope for women in general, that they could learn to continue to love their bodies through the changes and the ups and downs,” Graham continued.
“And then, when I got pregnant, I had to reimagine my relationship with my body with this creature inside me taking over. I was gaining weight so rapidly. Then, to get stretch marks on my stomach, that to me was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this happened.’ At first it felt devastating, and then when I met Isaac, I said, ‘No, this is exactly what every woman has talked about for ages. This is not just a battle wound. This is something that has changed my life forever, and I’m going to celebrate my new body.'”
Little Isaac even makes a couple of cameos in his mom’s Elle spread, which was shot by Ervin at their family farm in Nebraska. But despite spending her quarantine in the country, Graham told her pal Kristen Bell (who conducted the interview) that she still loves getting glammed up for work.
“All these Zooms can be a lot — it’s overwhelming to have so much screen time,” she told Bell, 40. “So why not break it up by switching your makeup? It’s just fun. I mean, what else am I going to be doing? I’m breastfeeding, I’m changing diapers, and I’m doing a new look for each Zoom.”
Just don’t expect the body-positive activist to look picture-perfect in every social media snap. “When it comes to Facetuning and altering your body — erasing body parts and cellulite and lifting and tightening — I pass on all that,” the model said, adding that she chooses not to follow influencers who airbrush all their shots.
And going against the grain in the appearance-obsessed style world — whether by embracing her stretch marks in a swimsuit shoot or speaking up about designers who decline to dress curvier stars — has served Graham well.
“I let the fashion industry take over my body for too many years,” she explained. “The moment I stepped free and said, ‘Enough is enough — I’m going to do what I want,’ is when I started seeing changes, not only in my personal life but in my professional life. But it really takes hard work.”