Ashley Graham Tearfully Admits Hesitation Over Revealing Nude Pregnancy Shot

If you’re an Ashley Graham fan, you’ll know that she is not one to shy away from the camera. As a plus-size model and body activist who embraces her curves (as should we all), Graham surprised some viewers this morning by tearfully revealing that she was hesitant to post a nude pregnancy photo of herself back in August.

“I had just announced that I was pregnant, and I thought then I was gonna feel good, and I didn’t,” Graham tearfully admitted on her Fearless show with guest Taylor Hoit, a mother of four. Ultimately, Graham received an outpouring of love when she posted the shot to Instagram, revealing her stretch marks. Still, running through her mind were feelings of doubt. 

“I just felt terrible. That morning actually, I really thought to myself, ‘Get it together, Ashley. There are other women out there who are going through the same thing as you. Why don’t you have a dialogue with them? This is a new body that I’m walking into. Why don’t I just put myself out there with this new body?’” she tells Hoit. 

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Any pregnant person can relate to these feelings of loneliness and isolation. Thankfully, Graham started to approach her pregnancy differently and discovered what she described to Hoit as “a whole new world of body confidence.”

Hoit, who recently gave birth to twins, told Graham that she, too, struggled with body confidence. Like many other followers who saw Graham’s au naturel pregnancy post, Hoit was so deeply inspired that she posted her own postpartum photo. 

By coming together to speak openly about their pregnancy and postpartum struggles, these two women are working to change the dialogue within the motherhood community — and to encourage pregnant and postpartum people everywhere to embrace their bodies’ changes.

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But wait, this little mom-meetup gets even better: When the show was about to wrap up, Hoit’s boyfriend got down on one knee and proposed to her. And Ashley, bless her soul, congratulated the happily engaged couple by giving them $10,000. Pretty sweet.