Ashley Graham shows off postpartum body on the MTV VMAs red carpet: 'Not sucking anything in'
Ashley Graham left little to the imagination in a black dress featuring numerous sexy cutouts for her return to the red carpet.
The model made an appearance at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday for her first red carpet in America in a few years. She didn't neglect to share three little reasons for her absence.
"[I] keep having children, I keep breastfeeding," she said, referencing her three sons born in 2020 and 2022 in a YouTube video documenting her experience, "there was a f***ing pandemic and I'm back."
Graham's journey with motherhood has been well-documented on her social media accounts through the years, as she took to Instagram with the announcement of both pregnancies and continues to share the reality of her life postpartum. Arriving to the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Sunday, she intended to do the same.
"Tonight I'm wearing custom Houghton, I'm so excited. Safety pins are exposed on purpose. I'm not wearing a bra. I'm gonna be wearing panties, but the'’re not doing anything. They're not sucking anything in," she said in her behind-the-scenes footage. "I'm showing my eight-month postpartum body, stretch marks and all. I did do a self-tan, so I'm not gonna lie."
After posting her look to Instagram, Graham's followers hyped the model and mother up in the comment section.
"Oh that dress is hot!" one person wrote. Another said, "Inspiration to all moms [to] embrace your body. Because giving birth is the most beautiful thing and thank you for making our scars shine."
Being unfiltered isn't anything new for the 34-year-old, who has used her platform to spread body positivity and acceptance throughout her career. When recently sharing images from her stripped-down cover for Perfect magazine, Graham showed people how she advocates for authenticity.
"I personally think it's the best choice!" Graham wrote to the publication's creative director when they spoke about not retouching the images. "The pictures look stunning and speak for themselves..."
Graham's VMAs vlog carried that same energy as she spoke to the reality of attending and presenting at such an event. "I was just in the bathroom for 10 minutes blotting the sweat off of my body. It’s so hot here," she said prior to taking the stage. A few hours later, she was excited for her night to end. "Fun times at the VMAs. I peed twice, I was a presenter, I sweated my butt off. I still feel very sweaty. It's OK."
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