Model Ashley Graham shared a powerful photo with fans. “Justin says my stretch marks look like the tree of life,” the mother of one, who is pregnant with twins, captioned a nude selfie via Instagram on Thursday, December 1.
Ashley, 34, was referring to her husband, Justin Ervin. The pair began dating in 2009 and tied the knot a year later. In January 2020, Ashley and Justin welcomed son Isaac Menelik Giovanni. Come July 2021, the A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like author announced her pregnancy, later confirming she’s having twin boys.
Unsurprisingly, plenty of Ashley’s followers loved Justin’s comparison of her stretch marks to the tree of life. “And yup, he’s right. Nothing more beautiful,” fellow model Iskra Lawrence commented with several red heart emoji.
“Agreed!! And absolutely beautiful. They’ll always tell your story so wear them proudly,” one fan added. “That’s really beautiful and true. Mother Nature,” a second user echoed.
Since becoming a mother, Ashley never misses an opportunity to open up about pregnancy and parenthood. “I thought I was going to need a lot more help. I thought that I needed a lot more tools. I bought everything — every gadget. But Isaac just needed me and a diaper. I’m all he needed,” the America’s Next Top Model alum recalled during an October interview with Motherly.
“Just being his mom was all he needed, and that felt so good to me. The other thing was the crying. I cried so much because when you go through that [pregnancy and birth], it’s just such a wild chemical imbalance,” Ashley added.
As for her second pregnancy, the Lincoln, Nebraska, native is making sure to care of herself — with a lot of help from her mom, Linda. “My mom is such a blessing. She’s raised three girls — I’m the oldest — and she’s just like, ‘You got this. You got it. This is just what people do,'” Ashley explained.
“And she’s been such an amazing encouragement and breath of fresh air compared to all the people surrounding me going, ‘It’s going to be crazy, you’re never going to sleep. You’re going to be so tired.’ And it’s like, those are the things you don’t need to hear,” she continued. “As for me and my body, I’m taking it easy. I’m not going to put any pressure on myself by establishing weight goals or anything like that. I’m not going to do that to myself or my mental health.”