Ashley Graham: “I was a sex symbol, now I’m a machine that churns out children, with stretch marks up to the navel”

In front of the naked and raw photos of before, during and after pregnancy posted by Ashley Graham, 34, on her path towards the motherhood of three puppies, Isaac Menelik Giovanni, just over 2 years old, and the twins Malaki and Roman, almost six months old, one would think that the model has self-confidence to sell. He has posted, it would seem without thinking twice, photos of her of her stretch marks on social media and photos in postpartum lingerie that have increased the esteem that the whole world already had of her, for being the greatest advocate and supporter of the movement. body positive. Yet she too has a human side, weak and insecure and in an interview published su Glamor Uk she told how she had to rethink her relationship with her body after the birth of the twins and the miscarriage she had never talked about.

And his words were in a certain sense unexpected: «I was a sex symbol, now I’m a machine that churns out children and I have stretch marks up to the navel. What the hell is going on? », She told a surprise highlighting how difficult it is to deal with the changes in the body that a pregnancy can bring despite the happiness that follows».

“Then one day I stopped and thought, fuck it, this is my life, and I posted a photo of my stretch marks on Instagram, which my husband described to me that day as the tree of life. Bless him”.

«I would like to say that it was so. That after posting that photo, I found peace with myself and my new body. But it wasn’t that simple. The birth of Malachi and Roman was incredible, but the consequences were deeply overwhelming. I have not been able to walk properly for a long time, not to mention the exercise that I could not do. I was shaking, not feeling myself physically or emotionally. I had planned to go back to work after eight weeks, but I was a mess and when I looked in the mirror, I still felt pregnant“.

Words that, spoken by her, the greatest advocate of body positivity, make us think. “I’ve learned it’s okay if the journey to love you is more complex than you ever could have imagined. Even now, if I’m being completely honest, I go by periods. I still don’t feel completely comfortable in my body, regardless of my defense of body positivity. There are days when I look at myself and say, “There’s nothing you can’t handle. There’s nothing you can’t do. “Then I look at the stretch marks that still exist and will forever exist on my stomach, and I think, God, why did you have to climb up above my navel?”

The star in her candid confession said that like many others, she felt the pressure to recover her pre-pregnancy silhouette. She thought she could get back to the gym quickly, but she didn’t. She, who has always fought against unjust and unrealistic standards, confessed that “if she’s to be completely honest, she can’t wait to get back to her pre-pregnancy body fast», For the first time showing that she too is vulnerable and a victim of the world to which she belongs and of the standards it imposes on women, including the judgment on her size. Pressure he says, no woman, in any industry, deserves to hear.

To help all new mothers and mothers-to-be to keep their skin supple, we have collected anti-stretch mark products in the gallery.