What is Ashley Graham's Net Worth?
Ashley Graham is an American supermodel and media personality who has a net worth of $10 million. Ashley Graham started modeling at a young age and rose to fame due to her popular plus-size campaigns and advertisements. She is the first plus-sized model to ever appear in the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit edition. She appeared in the ad at the age of 27 and was a size 14 when the swimsuit campaign was shot. She has been very vocal throughout her career about the need for the media to embrace curves and has spoken out to encourage women to love their bodies.
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Early Life
Graham was born on October 30, 1987 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her mother, Linda Graham, was primarily a homemaker. Growing up, Graham did not have a very stable relationship with her father, who was often absent for much of Graham's life. She has two younger sisters and as a young girl was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia. Beginning in 1999, she attended Scott Middle School and then enrolled at Lincoln Southwest High School from 2002 to 2005.
As a young girl, Graham received a lot of unwanted attention because she had developed a very womanly and curvaceous figure at the age of 10. She experienced a number of inappropriate advances from older men and has been frank about her troubling relationship with her father made it hard for her to discern between good and bad male attention.
When Graham was at Oak View Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2000, a modeling agency scouted her, which jump-started her career at the age of 12.
Career
After she was discovered, Graham signed a modeling deal with Wilhelmina Models. She soon after signed a deal with Ford Models. She appeared in YM magazine early on in her career. In April 2007, she appeared in Vogue magazine after Sally Singer wrote a profile on her. She then made an appearance in Glamour in 2009 with a number of other plus-size models in an editorial called "These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size."
She landed a commercial for plus-size clothing company Lane Bryant in 2010 that received over 800,000 views on YouTube. The commercial attracted some controversy as it featured Graham in undergarments. However, Graham responded to some of the negative press by comparing the commercial to similar campaigns by brands like Victoria's Secret, stating the only difference was the size of the model. In 2010, she also appeared in an editorial for Bust magazine and in several Levi's Jeans campaigns. Some other notable editorial campaigns featuring Graham include Marina Rinaldi, Bloomingdale's, Hanes, Liz Claiborne, Nordstrom, Target, and Macy's, among others. By the end of 2012, Graham was named the Full Figured Fashion Week's Model of the Year.
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Graham continued staying busy by designing a lingerie line for the Canadian clothing retailer Addition Elle. She also was featured in the May 2014 issue of Harper's Bazaar and appeared as the cover model on Elle Quebec in their June 2014 issue. In 2015, her career continued to flourish when she appeared as one of the first plus-size models to appear in the Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated. The following year, in 2016, she made history by being the first plus-size model to appear on the Swimsuit Issue's cover.
In addition to editorial work, Graham has also done a significant amount of runway work. She has walked the runway in shows for designers like Dolce and Gabbana, Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung, Rag and Bone, Tommy Hilfiger, and Christian Siriano.
Graham has also pursued a number of other professional pursuits while remaining in the public eye. She has served as a host on various Miss USA and Miss Universe competitions and also appeared on "America's Next Top Model" as an official judge in the show's later seasons. She competed on "Lip Sync Battle" in 2017 and accepted the role of host on "American Beauty Star."
In 2017, Graham also released a book entitled "A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like." In the book, she discusses how she has grown into being a body positivity advocate, especially given her experience working as a professional model and breaking many barriers that plus-sized models have faced in the industry. She also has given a TED Talk on the topic of self-acceptance and body positivity. She carries this message onto her social media platforms and will often show unedited photos of herself to help women recognize that things like cellulite and body fat are normal.
Personal Life
While modeling in New York as a teenager, Graham had numerous relationships with men around the city. At the same time, she participated in the city's party scene and then began dating a man named Carlos when she was 19. She has since described the relationship they had as abusive, as Carlos was prone to getting drunk and becoming enraged. She has described how her insecurities in her youth prevented her from being confident enough to leave the relationship until she finally did so over a year after they began dating.
In 2009, Graham met Justin Ervin, who worked as a videographer, at church. A year later, they married and then announced that they were expecting a child together almost ten years later in August of 2019. In January of 2020, the couple had their son, Isaac. The following year, in July of 2021, Graham announced that they were expecting their second child. That second child turned out to be twin boys who were born in January 2022.
Outside of her family and career, Graham has also participated with the Themba Foundation doing missionary work in South Africa.
