Model Ashley Graham has revealed she was sexually abused as a child in her new memoir
ASHLEY Graham has been smashing stereotypes ever since she burst onto the modelling scene, but her new memoir has revealed a dark memory.
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ASHLEY Graham is already becoming one of the most influential models of her generation but her rise to fame was marred by a dark childhood memory.
In her upcoming memoir A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty and Power Really Look Like, Graham opens about being sexually abused by a family friend.
The Vogue model says an 18-year-old boy forced her to touch his erection while they were drying off after a swim in the pool.
“That’s what you did to me,” he told her.
Graham added that she was terrified and ran away but it “left me with so many lingering questions”.
Graham reveals the abuse was the start of a number of toxic relationships with older men.
“It didn’t matter how inappropriate, unsolicited, or confusing it was, any male attention was good attention as far as I was concerned,” she writes.
After moving to New York to pursue her modelling career, Graham admitted she was almost fired by her agency for her use of drugs and alcohol.
“I hit bottom,” she writes after revealing she had to apologise to her agent after missing a flight to a job because of partying all night.
Nowadays, the 29-year-old model is famous for inspiring others to embrace their flaws and be content with who they are but Graham admitted it took a long time for her to reach that point.
“No matter how many jobs I landed, I always found something to criticise about my appearance,” she writes.
And, it wasn’t just Graham criticising herself, she was also being criticised by agents and stylists — the worst of which was when a German stylist was cutting her jeans for a shoot.
“When I asked someone to translate, I found out she had said, ‘If this big girl falls on me. We are both going to die. Her from the scissors, and me from her.’”
Despite all that, Graham has become one of the world’s most sought-after models.
Last year she graced the covers of Maxim and Sports Illustrated and also became the first plus-sized model to feature on British Vogue.
Graham’s memoir, A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like, is slated for release next month on May 9.
Originally published as Model Ashley Graham has revealed she was sexually abused as a child in her new memoir