Ashley Graham insists all body shapes are "cool".
Ashley Graham
The 30-year-old model admitted she's been inundated with comments accusing her of glamorising being overweight, but all she wants to do is to encourage her fans to be confident in themselves, no matter what their size.
She said: "There is one guy who said to me, 'Stop making fat look cool, you are going to kill somebody.'
"The teachable moment there is that I am not making anything cool except for confidence and people feeling great about themselves.
"I think for someone to look at me and place me in a box is very small-minded. Yeah, I've got fat and I have got lots of it, but I am not sitting here saying that fat is cool; what I am saying is that you are cool no matter how large or small you are."
But Ashley pays no attention to her critics because she refuses to give them the "power" to make her feel bad.
She added in an interview with Glamour UK's website: "No one has power to make you feel bad about yourself unless you give them that power. You shouldn't take anything anyone says on social media to heart because that is just a person writing their own insecurity to you. At the end of the day, it isn't about addressing the haters, it's about addressing them with a teachable moment."
Ashley - who is married to 29-year-old videographer Justin Ervin - confessed that being a role model for so many women makes her want to "create more change" for her "social media sisters" and to keep the "fighting the fight" for body positivity and confidence.
She added: "It makes me feel like I am doing something to contribute to this world. It makes me want to keep going and creating more change.
"I look at my fans across social media as my sisters; we are all in this together and we are fighting the good fight.
"Honestly, there is strength in numbers and it feels like there is nothing we can't do if we support each other. Women in the public eye advocating to make their stories and voices heard is becoming more and more common.
"I am so proud of all the women who have raised their voices."
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