Ashley Graham is looking back at her life as a Barbie doll. No, the supermodel isn’t in Greta Gerwig’s new “Barbie” movie, but Mattel made a doll in her likeness in 2016.
“The first things that came to mind were thick thighs, lower belly fat, round arms [and] cellulite,” Graham recalls requesting of the toy company on this week’s episode of the “Just for PvNew” podcast. “And I got to do everything except for the cellulite. … Maybe it was too hard to figure out how to do that with the computer.”
But Graham was very happy with the final product: “It wasn’t like, ‘Hi, Curvy Barbie.’ It was just Barbie.”
Graham is reuniting with the storied brand by hosting HGTV’s “Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge.” The show features eight design duos creating different Barbie-themed rooms in an L.A. area home. The winning team have a donation made in their names to Save the Children, and a Barbie megafan also gets to stay in the house for a vacation. Guest judges include Jonathan Adler, Christian Siriano, “Entertainment Tonight” anchor Nischelle Turner and “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin. Graham’s Barbie makes multiple appearances on the new show.
Things have certainly changed since the 35-year-old model launched her career at the age of 12. “When I was 17 and 18 years old, there was only one curvy, plus-size — whatever you want to call her — full-figured model that had her moment,” Graham says. “It was just once a year, if we were lucky. All the other girls were labeled ‘the catalog girls’. And they were not given editorials, they were not given covers, you did not see them on TV. If you saw somebody on TV, she was on a diet, she was doing some kind of a product placement, because she didn’t like herself.
“And now, fast-forward 15, 20 years later and we’re seeing different bodies, we’re seeing different shapes,” she continues. “It is now starting to become more of a norm to see people un-retouched, and to see bodies jiggle, and to talk about the fact that being a certain size, it doesn’t equate to health. Those things are exceptional, and I’m so grateful that the industry finally has caught on.”
However, there’s more work to be done, especially when it comes to designing clothes that work for all body types. “I think that’s really where we’re missing the mark,” Graham says. “But because I have always come from a place of being very hopeful, and my glass is always half full, I’m just amazed at how far we’ve come. And that’s what makes me so happy, because there is now a path that young girls do not have to go down, that I did for them, that some other women did for them. They don’t have to have their stretch marks and their cellulite retouched out in front of them on a computer by a man who thinks that that is ugly and not beautiful.”
I, of course, couldn’t not ask Graham about going viral with Hugh Grant at the Oscars in March. While co-hosting the Academy’s live pre-show, Graham had an awkward chat with the “Love Actually” star. Critics slammed Grant for coming off as rude with his short answers and bored expression, while Graham earned praise for trying to connect with the actor. “When you’re interviewing someone, you’re hoping that they’re just kind of on the same vibration as you,” Graham said. “Like, you know what I need, I know what you need, let’s get this party started … because we all have our job to do, especially on a live red carpet. But the vibrations were not there.”
Listen to the full interview with Graham above. “Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge” premieres on HGTV on July 16. Episodes will also be available on Max. You can also find “Just for PvNew” wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
