Since giving birth to her son in January, Ashley Graham has expanded her body-positivity mission to focus on mothers, too. On Saturday, the plus-size model managed, without saying a word, to remind moms that they are beautiful no matter how their bodies may have changed.
Graham zoomed the camera in on her abdomen and then shaped her hands into a heart around her stomach, highlighting her loose skin and stretch marks. She shared the clip to Instagram and captioned the post with numerous colorful hearts.
The mother of one's post comes at a time when moms still feel overwhelming pressure to lose weight quickly after giving birth. A survey of 7,000 moms conducted by Baby Center, a resource for parents, found that 61% of moms expected to be back at their pre-pregnancy weight by the time their babies turned one.
Graham, and others, aren't just working to empower mothers. The way a mother feels and talks about her body can also significantly impact how her children feel about theirs.
Children between the ages of five and eight who think their moms are dissatisfied with how they look are more likely to think negatively about their own bodies, according to Common Sense Media.
Through her work, Graham tries to flip the script to demonstrate the grit and strength required to carry and give birth to a baby.
"This is the face of my greatest strength," Graham wrote in a caption on International Women's Day accompanying an image of her giving birth. "The greatest pain I've ever known and the greatest accomplishment that I've ever achieved."
- Read more:
- Ashley Graham shared a video of her pumping breast milk in an Uber — a reminder of how demanding breastfeeding is
- Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner, and 6 other celebrity moms on how their bodies changed during pregnancy
- Kylie Jenner clapped back at commenters who criticized her post-baby body
- Katy Perry was able to share her pregnancy news with her 99-year-old grandmother right before she died
