Supermodel Ashley Graham, a longtime advocate for body positivity, has spoken out against the rising popularity of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, calling the trend "a smack in the face" to the movement.
In an interview with Marie Claire published April 30, Graham expressed her dismay at the cultural shift away from body acceptance. "There was a pendulum that swung that was so body acceptance, positivity [and] everybody be who they want to be," she said. "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."
Graham acknowledged that weight loss injections are a passing trend, much like others before, but emphasized that women's bodies should not be treated as trends. "It goes with the times—and GLP-1s are a time," she explained. "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."
Despite the growing popularity of these drugs, the 38-year-old model believes the body positivity movement will endure, citing the many plus-size influencers and creators who continue to promote self-acceptance. "They're all over the place with their sizes and their proportions and how they look and how they're relatable," she said. "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 also opened up about her own struggles with body image after becoming a mother to three sons—Isaac, 6, and twins Malachi and Roman, 4. "I'm living in a different body and it's been hard to get to know her," she shared. "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 added, "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."