Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — “What I want women to know is that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.” That’s what Ashley Graham tells ABC’s Robin Roberts during Robin’s ABC News special Game Changers, which airs tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Graham never imagined she’d become the first full-figured model to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. “Because for so long, I was told, ‘No, you’re not that girl. You won’t ever be that girl.'”
Graham shattered stereotypes and barriers — from the SI cover to TED talks, designing her own clothing line and being named one of Glamour‘s 2016 Women of the Year for her activism and body positivity.
Even Mattel collaborated with her to make a Barbie in her likeness.
“It was really important for me to have touching thighs because little girls need to know that perfection doesn’t exist,” Graham said.
She and Robin returned to Graham’s hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, where she recalled some painful times.
Graham’s mother Linda supported her daughter when she moved from Nebraska to New York City at a young age to pursue her dreams of becoming a model.
But the Big Apple wore on Graham. She slowly began to gain weight and wasn’t working as much as she had hoped. Agents told her, “‘You’re doing OK. But if you lost about 20 to 30 lbs., you could be on top of the world,'” Graham recalled.
“I call my mom and I just broke down. I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. This is not for me.'”
But her mother reminded her how much she’d given up to pursue modeling. Graham said her mother told her on that phone call, “If you aren’t changing your life, fine. But your body is supposed to change somebody else’s life.”
Her mother proved to be right.Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
