Plus-size model Ashley Graham slammed for looking ‘unhealthy’ on cover of Sports Illustrated

PLUS-size model Ashley Graham has been slammed for looking “unhealthy” on cover of Sports Illustrated, with a former British minister suggesting she is “obese”.

Cover model Ashley Graham attends the 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue launch party at Brookfield Place on Tuesday, Feb, 16, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

FORMER top model Cheryl Tiegs has launched in to the model weight debate, blasting ‘Sports Illustrated’ for having plus-size model Ashley Graham on one of three 2016 swimsuit issue covers.

Tiegs, who herself graced the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue on multiple occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, said the decision to feature Graham was promoting an ‘unhealthy’ lifestyle.

“I don’t like that we’re talking about full-figured women because it’s glamorising them, and your waist should be smaller than 35 [inches],” the 68-year-old told E!

“That’s what Dr. Oz said, and I’m sticking to it.

Tiegs did praise Graham for her face, but didn’t appreciate her figure as being ‘healthy’.

“Her face is beautiful. Beautiful. But I don’t think it’s healthy in the long run,” she said.

Unhealthy? Ashley Graham is the second plus-sized model featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition. Picture: Sports Illustrated/James Macri

Former top model Cheryl Tiegs doesn’t support the use of plus-size model Ashley Graham on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Picture: Walter Iooss, Jr. Picture: Sports Illustrated

Ashley Graham, who is a size-16, is the first ‘plus-size’ model to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The 28-year-old was overwhelmed for landing the opportunity, taking to social media to express the honour.

“Thank you to everyone who stood up for curves — our voices were heard and together we can help me win Rookie of the Year,” she wrote on Instagram.

"Thank you to everyone who stood up for curves -- our voices were heard and together we can help me win Rookie of the Year," she wrote on Instagram.

But the commentary on Graham’s weight has continued in London, where former British Member of Parliament Edwina Currie said her shape was “unhealthy”.

“If you’re that sort of size, and I’m not as slim as I should be, you’re heading for diabetes, which is awful,” she said

“You’re heading for hip problems and knee problems and all the other issues.”

Former British Minister and “Strictly Come Dancing" contestant Edwina Currie. Picture: Supplied.

Edwina Currie prompted further outrage by claiming the model is “obese”, “looks unhealthy” and will cause “damage”.

“I don’t think she looks incredible. I think she looks unhealthy,” she added.

“If you’re obese, if you get to that sort of size, then you’re doing your pancreas an awful lot of damage.”

Furious Twitter users slammed the former ministers comments, labelling Ms Currie as a “rancorous old sow” for saying such “dangerous” comments.

Not everyone is in support of Ashley Graham on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated.

So why, after continuous calls to change the ‘skinny’ face of fashion, are we now against the use of ‘plus-size’ women on the covers of magazines and on social media?

Just last week, Australian fitness guru Ashy Bines questioned the image of American size-22 model Tess Holliday, saying she wasn’t a “good role model for young girls” and that she wasn’t a “healthy body image that should be applauded.”

Speaking to The Sunday Times, British plus-size model Jess Greaves said that not everyone was embracing fashion’s new celebration of curves, with some starting to see bigger as better, and instead of slimming down women in photos, orchestrating manipulation of different kind.

“When I started, the sample sizes were 14, which is my size,” Greaves told The Sunday Times.

“A couple of years down the line they were telling me that I wasn’t big enough any more because the sample sizes are 16.”

As a result, Greaves was required to wear padding under her clothes to look larger in photographs.

“I was stuffed like a teddy bear because I didn’t fit the sample sizes. I don’t have very large hips,” she said.

Greaves also admitted some of her photos had been manipulated to achieve the ‘ideal hourglass shape,’ and could understand how such alteration was also damaging.

It is not uncommon for brands to use padding and other methods to increase the size of models, with Tess Holliday revealing is as a “normal thing” because the desire for the classic hourglass shape meant plumping and altering was all part of the curves phenomenon.

Altering, plumping and padding models is “normal” for brands to do to achieve an ideal plus-size shape. Picture: Facebook/

Laura Catterall, who is a size 14-16 model thinks brands, magazines and labels should be under the same microscope as the rest of the industry, and that models should not be under pressure to put on weight to fit certain briefs.

“In Europe most of the girls are size 14-16; in America they are size 16-18.

“If we’re going to ban models whose body mass index is too low, then we should do the same on the plus side as well,” she said.