10 Things You Need to Know About Ashley Graham

In Barbie’s world, it’s all about fun and being positive, so who better to embody that in the real world than Ashley Graham? Ashley has been redefining beauty standards and what it means to love yourself. She’s a natural fit as the new host of Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge. She even has an Ashley Graham Barbie doll that launched in 2016, so children can play with Barbie’s in all shapes and beautiful sizes!

Ashley landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2016. She may be a supermodel but what we love the most about her is her down to earth attitude and fun approach to life. There’s no one else we’d rather get glam and eat our favourite fast food with—especially now that Shake Shack is finally coming to Canada!

Ashley has been a vocal advocate for body positivity and challenging mainstream beauty standards and body shaming in the fashion industry for years. She embraces the term “my-size” instead of “plus size” and practices positive affirmations everyday.

Gracing the covers of countless magazines, Ashley started modeling at the young age of 12 after being discovered in a mall. She has knocked down barriers in the fashion industry by being the first size 16 model on Sports Illustrated and Vogue, to name a few.

Ashley met her husband Justin Ervin, a producer, in 2009 at church. They married one year later and they still act like honeymooners. Much like a real-life Ken and Barbie!

In January 2020, Ashley added motherhood to her list of achievements and welcomed her first child, Isaac, to the world, with her husband Justin.

Ashley is most well known for her modelling and advocacy work but there’s so much more to her than meets the eye. Ashley is a published author, podcast host, fashion designer, America’s Next Top Model Judge and television host.

In July 2021, Ashley and Justin announced they were pregnant for the second time. But this time there was a twist as the couple very soon discovered they were having twins! 

Ashley and her husband welcomed twin boys into their lives in January 2022, exactly two years after their first son Isaac was born. Ashley has been open about how carrying three babies in the span of two years has changed her body and how grateful she is that her body could handle such a monumental task.

Ashely gave a TED talk in 2015 titled Plus-size? More Like My Size where she discussed the need for diversity of all body types in the mainstream media, as well as self love and acceptance. She has changed the media’s representation of what beauty means and positively impacted the lives of people and young women everywhere.

Catch Ashley on new episodes of Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada. Also available on the Global TV App and on STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels, fuboTV, Rogers Ignite TV, and Ignite SmartStream.