FASHION

Ashley Graham Responds to Kendall Jenner’s Comments About Being “Selective” About Modeling Jobs

“Lucky for her.”


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Photographs by Patrick Demarchelier, Styled by Katie Grand

Since Kendall Jenner told Love magazine earlier this year that she’s “super selective” about which fashion shows she walks in—while being among the highest-paid models in the industry—dozens of her colleagues have called out her privilege. Ashley Graham is the latest to add her voice to the fray: On Thursday night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live, Graham was asked about her thoughts on Jenner’s controversial comments, and she gave a powerful answer.

As a fan asked her the question via speakerphone, Graham began to chuckle. Then, without missing a beat, she said, while nodding, “Well, lucky for her. ‘Cause I’ve never been—that’s so lucky.” She continued, “These tits and ass have just had to fight through and break down barriers everyday.”

While Graham clearly finds Jenner’s comments unrelatable, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between the two. Later on in Thursday’s WWHL, Graham played a game in which she was asked to spill “Positivi-Tea” about her friends and fellow models. During the game, she praised Jenner, saying, “She’s in demand, honey!”

Jenner’s comments first came to light in August, when Love quoted her as saying, “Since the beginning we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck those girls do. More power to ’em. But I had a million jobs, not only catwalks but everything else.” She added, “The whole combination was very overwhelming and I started to freak out a little bit and needed to take a step back.”

When many other models called her out for seemingly not recognizing her own privilege and not understanding how hard they work just to reach her level of success, Jenner quickly clarified her statements. “I was misrepresented in a recent interview over the wknd & it’s important to clarify the meaning. It was intended to be entirely complimentary but unfortunately, my words were twisted & taken out of context,” she tweeted. “I want to be clear. The respect that I have for my peers is immeasurable!”

Related: Naomi Campbell Had a Very Pointed Response When Asked About Kendall Jenner