The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From the Archives: Ashley Graham - January 8, 2018

Episode Date: November 20, 2018

Ashley Graham talks about returning to "America's Next Top Model" as a judge and navigating the fashion industry as a plus-size woman in "A New Model." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Please welcome Ashley Graham. Well, isn't this nice. This is nice. Hi, guys. This is nice.

Hi, guys. This is nice. Because we met a while ago and I said to you, are you going to come on the show and you said yes. Thannewa, this is nice. This is nice. This is nice. Because we met a while ago and I said to you, are you going to come on the show and you said yes and then you walked away and I was like, she's not coming to the show. And here I am!

Here you are, thank you very much to be here. Congratulations coming back for another season of America's next top model. That's an exciting one. Is this going to be the first one where you are on the same season as Tyra, thea, thea, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and the same, and to me. to me. to me, and to me. to me. to to to to to to be. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I.. And, and to, and to, and to, and to to, and the whole time I was sitting next to her, so it was Drew, Tyra, me, and the in law roach. And I'm taking notes, I'm trying to get as close to her as possible just to like get her energy on me as much as I could. She has turned into an amazing mentor. I mean, I could call her right now and be like, well this is what I did, this is what you should do, here's the mistakes I made and this is where I thrived.

Wow, so yeah, she's great. So you could just call her and say anything, like could you just call and be like, so Trevor wants to have like drinks with you or something? Yeah. Like any call, that's insane. We should t into that. Let's talk about the book. Let's talk about the book.

Let's talk about the book. Yeah, the book is coming out in paperback, which is really cool. The title of the book is a new model, right? And what you talk about in the book is confidence, beauty and power and what they really look like. You've been the the the the the the the the the the the the the th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho thi thi tho tho tho tho tho thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thu. thu. that has been one that I think you've shared with many people in America and that has been the journey of a curvy woman trying to find her place in not just in modeling and in fashion, but in society. In the world. Yeah, I have been told I'm not good enough because of my thunderthighs.

I've been told I wasn't going to get covers of magazines because I was to the to be to be a tall, too outspoken. So many different things about me that weren't good enough. And the more I persevered and the more that I said, oh really, well, I'm going to keep working hard because that's the kind of family that I come from. I don't take no for an answer, and I finish what I started, then you can have to have what to to their, their, th, th, th, to, th, th, to, th, to, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thr, and thrown, throwne, tho, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and th, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the the the the the more, the more, the more, the more, the more, the more, the more, the more, throwne, throwne, thrown, thrown, thrown, thrown, thrown, thrown, throwne, throwne, and, thr't just work hard at it. You had to work hard against an industry that in many ways told you you didn't belong. How does modeling deal with that paradox? Because it feels like one. It's like modeling goes like, this is what modeling is.

Right. And now there are new voices coming forward saying, no, this is not what modeling is should be about the body've had so many different generations of models, right? It's always been about like the body or the, now it's really about activism and also Instagram numbers, unfortunately, but it just is what it is. So now you're seeing models standing up that are talking about something that they really believe in. And I want women of all shape sizes and races to know that I had to go through some ugly times in the fashion industry just like so many other women that have gone through different roads and paths in their own careers to get to where I am today.

And you can have whatever you want. You just have to really believe in yourself. I talk about it in my book, I hit really low times in my life where I thought I was thrown I was in a terrible relationship where my boyfriend chased me around the kitchen with a butcher knife and I still stayed with him because my confidence was so low. And it's in those moments that I share with the reader and I let them know, I was just like you. I hated who I was, but you can have whatever you want. And I had to explain that to the people in the modeling industry, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and I'm, and, and, and I'm, the the told, and, and, and, and I'm, and, and, and, and, the the the the the the the, the, the, and, and, the, and, and, and, and, the, and, and, and, the, and, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, I was, toe, toe, toe, toe, tolde, told, told, toe, told, toe, told, told, toe, told, they, they.e, the the the to explain that to the people in the modeling industry. And I think explaining myself, telling my truth and really truly who I am is what got me to where I am today. Because now people want to hear from models. We're not just silent, pretty little girls anymore.

We're big, bold women who have something to say. You don't just have something to say. You also say it loudly and beautifully. I mean, there are a few sections in the book that really toucest me. I mean, like, one of these is really impressive. I enjoyed this because it was something different I'd never heard and that was... Thanks for reading my book. In the last few years, I've become an icon for curvy woman, and beautiful. In 2016, in the last few years, I've become an icon for curvy woman, and a thiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, to to to to to to toee, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, is thi, is, is, is, is, is, is, thi, is, is, thi, is th. I th, th, is th, is, is th, is th, is th, is th, is, is th, is th, is th, is, is th, is, is th, is a th, is a th, is a thi, is a thi, thi, and, and, and, and, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiii, thii.a. thi thii. thi. thi, thi, thi, to be big and beautiful. In 2016, I was named Glamour Woman of the Year

for being a body activist. In 2015, I was called on to be a true expert in my field when I gave my very first TEDx talk, plus size, more like my size. That's an interesting title, because people wrestle with that quite a bit. They go like, is it plus size? Like, what are people are to be saying? But I love that you said my size. Right, because people have always put a label on me, and that label has always been plus

size. But if you look at the average size American woman, she is a size 14. So why are we categorizing women because of the number inside of their pants? We don't need to do that. Fortunately, yes. I don't to to to to to to to th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thu thu thu thu thu thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, tho, that, that, that, that, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that, that's, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. And, thi. And, tho. And, tho. Wea. Wea, thoooooooooooooooooomoomorrow, tha. And, tho. And, tho. And, th yes. I don't even want to ask you what your name would be. I'm just saying I have some junk, that's all I'm saying. You heard it here first, people. Okay, so, so, yes, I thought it was very important to talk about how I don't want to be labeled because the number of side of my pants.

You shouldn't either. Right. When you look at the labeling and when you look at the stigma that comes with it, how would you respond to somebody that says, but then Ashley, why not just get out of modeling? Why go into an industry that's going to make it hard for you to be yourself? Well, I didn't go seek modeling. Modeling found me and it was really interesting. I was in a mall in Nebraska at 12 years old and it just kind of started to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to happen to to to to th. to to th. th. to th. th. to to th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, why I thi, why I thi, why thi, why thi, why thi, why thi, why thi, why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why th. th. th. th. thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi? thi? thi? thi? thiii? thiii? thi? thi? thi? thi? thi? thi? Why not thi? Why not thi me feel like I had like something tangible. Like I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. I just didn't know how successful I was going to be. And I didn't get into modeling to feel pretty, get rich or get famous. I got into modeling because basketball, soccer and volleyball didn't really work out in high school. So, but I always tell young girls if you think any of those things things, things, thinin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, tho, tho, tho, thin, thinks, thinks, thinks, and I thinks, and I thinks, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm tho, and I'm to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, and I, and I, and I was, and I was, and I was, and I was, and I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was to to to th thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, and I'm thin, I'm thin, I'm thin, and I'm a thin, I'm a the the thin, I'm a the the theean, I'm a thin, I'm told to to to thin, I'm to tho-a, I'm thin, and I'm tell young girls, if you think any of those things are going to happen to you, they're not. Because famous sheer luck, you could make a lot of money and then spend it all and then

bye because nobody teaches you any of that. And if you think that it's going to make you feel pretty, it's only going to make you feel worse. So, yeah, people ask me, why throwne. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that. that. that. their. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. their their that. the. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. th. their. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. You. that. that. the. the. You. to to make. toe. toe. toe. toe. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toe. toe. the. to finish what you start. And the moment that I actually heard, the first young girl come up to me and say, you changed my life. You changed my life by posting a photo of yourself without air brushing your cellulite in a bikini. I was like, people care about that? I had no idea.

I mean, I knew that people knew that I had confidence and that it was contagious in a way. But to be able able able to talk to talk to talk to to to to to to to to to to to to to be able to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to, to, too-too-a, too-upe, too too too to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thoome, the thoomoomoomoomorrow, the the the the the the thooooooooooom... tooom. tooomorrow, tooomorrow, tooomorrow, to be able to talk to millions of people and say, your cellulite, your back fat, the cellulite on your arms, it doesn't matter. Who cares? Don't let society change your view of who you are. You have to be true to yourself. That kept me going. I mean.

I know that, like, I haven't been immune to it in my life. Many guys have also had our perceptions of women shaped by what we've seen, what we've grown up seeing. You know, whether it's making jokes about fat women, whether it's perceiving what a fat woman is or how she should be seen. Have you found that your job or you being a model and being a model the way you have been has changed the way men perceive beauty as well. I think that there's been definitely a conversation that has even just gone beyond what you always heard like, oh men don't like women without meat and bones. Right. And it's like, but I think that men all have different types and

tastes and it's not really about what they like. Right. Because who cares what men like it's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi thi. thi thi thi th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the. the. the. the. theeeeeee. theeeeeeee. theeeeeee. theee. the. the. the. the what they like. Because who cares what men like? It's about how you feel, right? Right? Right. Right. So, just saying. So I've always been told, I have to look good for a man. Because that's just how I was raised in a very small town kind of mentality. And the moment that I let all of that go, and I said, well, I don't care. And it it's th it's th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi's not really thi's not really thi's not really thi's not that thi, I'm thi, I've thi, I've thi, I've always thi, so I've always thi, so I've thi, so I've thi, so I've thi, so I've thi, I've thi, I've thi thi thi thi th. I've th. I've th. I've th. I've th. I've th. I've th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin. thin. that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that thatto be about this and it's going to be about this.

My sexy fine husband came into the picture and saw me for me, you know, and I think that that's what women have to understand is it's not about looking good for a man, it's not about fitting into a stereotype for a guy, it's really about being true to who you are. One last passage from the book that really got to me. It was a tho tho tho, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's, tho, to be a tho, to be a tho, tho, to be to be a tho, to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be to be to be the, to be to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to me, to me, to me, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to be to, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, the, the, the the thean, the the thean, the the the the the to me, the the the the the the the the that really got to me. It was a beautiful one. You said, I owe a special debt of gratitude toward women of color for whom my body type as a standard of beauty is not unique. For many black and brown people, curves have long been desirable. Why was that important for you to include in the book? Well, I have recognized over and over again that, first of all, I'm not the first plus size curvy, curve, I mean, I, I, I, I mean, I, I mean, I, I, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I owe, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, th, th, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thooooooooooooooooo, that, that, that, first of all, I'm not the first

plus-size, curvy, I mean, whatever you want to call me, model to make it or to be on the cover of any magazine. But I am the first one to have, I do have first, yes. But women of color for centuries have had my body type. And now all of a sudden, it's like, New Rika, a white woman with curves. Let's put her on a pedestal and see what she has to say about feeling good in her skin. Well when all of these women of color have felt just gorgeous in their skin and they've been praised for being curvy and I wanted to make it very clear. I'm not try to take anybody and say well you this is my body and I love it's the new the new kind. the new kind. the new. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the th. the the te. te. te. te. te. teeeeea. teeeeea. teeeeea. teea. teeeea. the tea. te. the te. te. trying to take anybody and say, well, you know, this is my body and I love it.

And it's the new kind of body and the new kind of sexy, because that's not it. This, this, this, it's been a sexy for centuries. And I wanted to let those women know, like, I see you, I respect you, and thank you for paving the way from me. Thank you so much for doing. It's good to finally have you here. The new season of America's next top model premier is January 9th at 8 tm on VH1 and the book and new model is available now. Ashley Graham, everybody. Watch the Daily Show with Covernoa, Ears Edition.

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