Ashley Graham Explains Why GLP-1 Trend Feels Like ‘A Smack in the Face’ to Body Positivity Movement

Model Ashley Graham has long been a pioneer in the body positivity movement, though the GLP-1 trend has arguably challenged the concept of fierce acceptance.

“It’s really disheartening,” Graham, 38, told Marie Claire in a profile published on Thursday, April 30. “There was a pendulum that swung that was so body acceptance, positivity [and] 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.”

Semaglutides and GLP-1s — including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro — are commonly prescribed to adults who struggle with weight-related conditions. Many celebrities have since started using the controversial drugs to slim down, though doctors have cautioned against using the medication for casual weight loss.

“It goes with the times — and GLP-1s are a time,” Graham acknowledged. “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.”

For Graham, she plans to continue building a “community” of body-positive women.

“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,” the supermodel mused to the outlet. “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?’”

Graham, for her part, is also still working to accept her own postpartum body. (Graham shares three sons with her husband, Justin Ervin.)

“I’m living in a different body and it’s been hard to get to know her,” she said of her post-baby figure. “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.’”

She continued, “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.”