Ashley Graham was front and center for Vogue’s January 2020 cover, showing off her baby bump while opening up about changing ‘the narrative’ of pregnancy.
Ashley Graham, 32, couldn’t have looked more powerful and radiant on Vogue‘s January 2020 cover, featuring the supermodel in a gorgeous, flowing gold Oscar de la Renta caftan with Azlee rings, while holding her growing baby bump. Ashley is one of four stars to be featured on the print magazine’s cover in the new year, and her solo photo was just as stunning as the second image in the magazine. Taken by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, the other photo features Ashley with her husband, Justin Ervin, as he cradles Ashley’s bare belly beneath a Brunello Cucinelli blouse while the couple recline on the beach. It’s a beautiful, raw image of the pair, who appear so at peace, concealing beneath their visages the excitement of being first time parents!
Ashley, who has actively used her platform to discuss body acceptance and confidence, opened up to Vogue about the changes her body has gone through since becoming pregnant and how she wants to change societal assumptions of the pregnancy experience. “I feel like it’s important to kind of change the narrative,” Ashley confessed. “It’s normal to feel scared, and not be one of those women who are like, ‘Oh, it’s so great!’ Just be scared out of your mind. That’s normal.”
But while the body positive activist eventually found the right mindset to take on her pregnancy and the exciting, nerve-wracking next phase of her life, she still admitted to feeling like “I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I was gaining weight rapidly. And I felt alone,” she confessed in the profile. “And the one piece of advice that my stylist, Jordan Foster, gave me was, ‘Make pregnant friends.’ None of my friends were in relationships, let alone pregnant. And now I have nine pregnant friends.”
Ashley Graham and her husband, Justin Ervine, pose for Vogue’s January 2020 edition of the magazine [Courtesy of Annie Leibovitz/VOGUE].It was Ashley’s support system that really became her stronghold and anchor throughout her pregnancy, and she routinely has gushed about her newfound community during the past year. But there’s also a natural ferocity to the model and activist, who wholly believes in “being your true, honest self. And the more you are, the more accepted you are, and the easier it is to navigate through success. I don’t have a persona. This is it.”
During her pregnancy, Ashley has boldly moved to continue her work, by shifting the conversation on women’s bodies, sizes and how we perceive the ideal look. Ashley, herself, finds that “women are embracing plus-size again, they’re embracing the word fat, they’re embracing curvy and big girl, because women are not one-dimensional.”
Once Ashley began to wholly embrace her body, “my career really started to take off.” She further explained, “I’ve tried every diet known to man, but they don’t work, because I’m a curvy woman—a big-boned, healthy, corn-fed Nebraska girl. It is who I am.” Just as she is, Ashley has helped to redefine beauty standards. With her baby, a son, due this coming January, fans cannot wait to see how she continues to use her platform and transform the conversation on women’s bodies, beauty and confidence.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
