Ashley Graham dished on pregnancy and motherhood while posing nude for a new magazine cover.
The model gave birth to her son, Isaac, in January.
Graham’s husband, photographer Justin Ervin, captured her birth and photographed her for Elle’s digital August 2020 issue.
ASHLEY GRAHAM UNVEILS ‘MY NEW MOM BOD’ IN SWIMSUITS FOR ALL SHOOT: ‘I WANT PEOPLE TO SEE WHO I AM’
In the interview, Graham, 32, discussed all the unsought advice she received while pregnant and after she gave birth.
“I’ve got a couple of family members who are pregnant, and my instinct is to say, ‘Oh, do this, do that,'” she told Kristen Bell, who interviewed her for the magazine. “But I stop myself every time because I remember how I felt when everybody told me what to do and sent me their unsolicited advice and their lists.”
She added: “If there’s a question to be asked, ask it. But other than that, keep your trap shut and just let that mother figure it out. The mommy-shaming on social media is out of control.”
One thing Graham wished other mothers were more candid about was the pain of childbirth.
“Every mother talks about, ‘Oh yeah, it’s painful.’ Whether they got an epidural or not, or a C-section, whatever happened, they’re like, ‘Yeah, it hurt.’ And they say it kind of calmly like that,” the “Pretty Big Deal” podcast host said.
She added: “They don’t go into the astronomical pain that you go through, especially if you choose to go natural.”
Graham has also been a champion of body positivity, but got candid about not feeling her best when she was pregnant.
“When I got pregnant, I had to re-imagine my relationship with my body with this creature inside me taking over. I was gaining weight so rapidly,” the former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model said. “Then, to get stretch marks on my stomach, that to me was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this happened.’”
Graham admitted: “At first it felt devastating, and then when I met Isaac, I said, ‘No, this is exactly what every woman has talked about for ages. This is not just a battle wound. This is something that has changed my life forever, and I’m going to celebrate my new body.’”
The first-time mom has since embraced all the joys of motherhood.
“Experiencing every single moment with him has been a dream come true,” Graham said.
In regards to staying home during the coronavirus pandemic, “I feel really bad for the next kid, because I don’t know if they’re going to get this much attention.”
Graham also opened up about her son not being “sleep-trained.”
“He only wakes up maybe once or twice in the night, max,” the model said. “I feel 100 percent rested, so it’s not like I’m living in agony every day like, ‘He didn’t sleep last night.'”
While Isaac is awake, however, the podcast host said her son “thinks it’s so fun to be louder than Mom and Dad.”
She gave other updates about her newborn and revealed, “I think we’ve figured out the diapers we like, and we only have maybe one blowout a week. And I’m still breastfeeding
