An Agent Once Told Ashley Graham To Lose Weight While Waving Money In Her Face

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Model Ashley Graham

Maybe 2016 should just rename itself theYear Of Ashley Graham. So far this year,thegorgeous model has takenthe fashion world by storm by posing on the cover of the 2016Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, rocking the cover of Maxim, and modelingin designer Christian Sirianos first plus-size runway show.

Back when the28-year-old was first starting her career, however, she wasnt always treated with the respect she deserves. I had agencies telling me that I had to lose weight, Graham recently revealed to People. I had one that waved money in my face and said, If you lose more lbspoundsyou can make a lot more of this, and he was waving $20 bills in my face. Wow, rude much?

That agents terrible attitude was apparently an attempt to push Graham into dropping pounds quickly, but she wasnt having it. I was peaking at a size 18, and in the plus size fashion industry, models go from a size 8 to a size 16/18, she explained to People. So if youre on the smaller size or the bigger size, youre not going to work as much as if youre in the middle. So he was trying to encourage me to lose weight but it didnt work, because I was that person where if you told me to go on a diet and lose weight, Im just going to gain weight.

Graham, who grew up in Nebraska, shared with the mag that whileher classmates sometimes teased her for her size, her mom always fostered a positive body image at home. Things gottougher emotionallywhen Graham moved to New York City at age 17. I had gained a lot of weight because my mom wasnt cooking for me and I wasnt working out, she told People. I started to really hate myself. I would literally just look in the mirror, and I would be disgusted. It was a constant degrading of my body. Youre fat. Youre ugly. Youre worthless. Im surprised youre a model, are some of the things I would say to myself.

Years ofnegative thoughts started to crushGrahams spirit. Eventually, she hit a wall and grew determined to be kind toherself, no matter her sizeand that sent her careeron a more positive trajectory than ever before. A lot of taking care of my body and my mind and my soul had to do with talking to myself and actually giving myself affirmations, she told the magazine. It got me out of my funk. I still had cellulite, I still had back fat, I still had jiggly arms, and I decided to love every part of it. Heres to taking a cue from Graham and choosing to loveevery part of our bodies. Life is too short for anything else!

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Source: http://www.self.com/trending/2016/05/an-agent-once-told-ashley-graham-to-lose-weight-while-waving-money-in-her-face/