‘My mom taught me it wasn’t an issue’: Ashley Graham on accepting her curves

Our mums have a huge influence on us.

From their advice to the example they set, we all look up to them for guidance. Model Ashley Graham has always been a big advocate of self love and body confidence, and recently revealed that she got it from her mama! “I remember my first signs of cellulite, in middle school. I remember telling my mom ‘Isn’t it disgusting? It’s so ugly.’ She pulled her pants down and said, ‘Look, I have it, too. And I was like, ‘Gasp!’,"  she told V magazine. “She looked at me, then at it, and just rolled her eyes,” Ashley continued. “She didn’t tell me that it’s beautiful or ugly. She just made it a nonissue.”

There is no such thing as perfection, so stop striving for it.

A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@theashleygraham) on May 6, 2017 at 5:54pm PDT

Ashley explained that her mum kept her going when the pressure of the modelling industry began to weigh on her. She was about to quit at the age of 18, having being called fat and ugly, but her mother wouldn't have it. "She told me, 'No, you’re not, because you told me that this was what you wanted and I know you’re supposed to do this. It doesn’t matter what you think about your body, because your body is supposed to change somebody’s life.' "To this day that sticks with me because I’m here today and I feel that it’s okay to have cellulite." She also said that her mum is still one for her role models. “Just seeing how happy she has been going through [life] and how she’s handled every curveball is like, that’s a women who has integrity and dignity and has been kind and generous to people around her," she said. Awww!