Model Ashley Graham Slams Hollywood For Using Jennifer Lawrence As Poster Girl For Curvy Figure

Model Ashley Graham is blasting Hollywood for defining Jennifer Lawrence as “curvy” when Graham believes Lawrence is actually “tiny.” In an essay Graham wrote for Net-a-Porter’s online magazine, the Edit, Graham writes why she thinks it’s wrong to for Lawrence to be a “poster girl for curves.”

“We need role models for young girls who say, ‘Embrace your curves. Who cares that your body isn’t perfect?’ There’s too much anorexia, obesity and suicide in this generation and nobody is addressing the issue. Young girls don’t have much to look at, curvy women are not on covers of magazines, they’re not talked about on social media as much as other celebrities. Jennifer Lawrence is the media’s poster girl for curves – she’s tiny.”

Reportedly, Ashley Graham is a size 14 while Lawrence is a size 6. Graham admits there are women in the media who are confident with their curves and are considered to be beautiful, but Graham wants girls to see more women in the media with healthy figures. The average woman in the U.S. is a size 14.

“I think that you can be healthy at any size and my goal is to help and educate women on that. It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 2 or 22 as long as you’re taking care of your body, working out, and telling yourself, ‘I love you’ instead of taking in the negativity of beauty standards.”

Jennifer’s weight has been a topic of conversation in the media on and off again over the years. In November 2014, she revealed to Harper’s Bazaar U.K. in an interview that she was once told if she didn’t lose weight, she would lose a job.

“Somebody told me I was fat, that I was going to get fired if I didn’t lose a certain amount of weight. They brought in pictures of me where I was basically naked, and told me to use them as motivation for my diet. It was just that.”

What was her response?

“If anybody even tries to whisper the word ‘diet’, I’m like, ‘You can go f**k yourself.'”

Ashley Graham seems to be having a successful modeling career. Graham was first discovered when she was twelve-years-old while shopping at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska. Graham began working for the modeling agency ‘Wilhelmina Models’, and then began working for ‘Ford’ in 2003.

In 2009, Ashley Graham was one of several “plus-size” models featured in an article, ‘These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size’ for Glamour magazine, and in 2012 Graham was also named Model of the Year at the ‘Full Figured Fashion Week’ week. Graham has also posed for Vogue and Elle, not to mention models for Layne Bryant’s clothing store.

Ashley Graham says the positive view she has of her body comes from her mother.

“I think being told I was beautiful by my mom my whole life made the difference. My mom never said, ‘I feel so ugly,’ she never looked at her face and said, ‘I need a lift.’ I never saw her looking at herself negatively and therefore I never looked at myself that way.”

When it comes down to body image, Ashley Graham’s hope is for young girls to feel beautiful in their skin and not resort to eating disorders. Graham wants them to focus on feeling good and staying healthy.

[Images courtesy of High Fashion Magazine and Studio 55]