Photographer Gilles Bensimon also fires back after the size 14-16 model was accused of being Photoshopped.
Ashley Graham is proud of her body -- all of her body.
The 28-year-old is the first size 14-16 model to grace the cover of Maxim, but now her fans are accusing the magazine of Photoshopping her full figure. Graham claims that not only is she "beyond proud to be the first curvy woman on the cover," but insists none of her curves were retouched.
"I was not slimmed down on the cover," she said in a statement. "[Photographer] Gilles Bensimon did an amazing job capturing my true figure in all of the photos."
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A number of fans cried Photoshop in Graham's Instagram comments, with one person writing, "It's a shame they photoshopped her to appear slimmer. They should have left her be. What's the point of featuring a plus size model on the cover if they're just going to make her look like the generic girls you see on their magazine."
Bensimon even took to Graham's comments to defend the photos, responding to that fan in particular, "I shoot this image of Ashley, and we don't slimmer her at all!!! Sorry because you sound so convinced."
"This is another major advancement for curvy women, especially those who work in the fashion industry who are working hard to get the recognition they deserve," Graham wrote in her statement.
The model hopes her Maxim cover will open the door for other curvy cover girls.
"I now encourage more publications and designers to put more diversity on their covers and runways," she added. "Let's continue to show that beautiful bodies come in different sizes and they should all be celebrated."
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When ET exclusively spoke with Graham about the shoot, she revealed that she is actually OK with some Photoshop -- but not if anyone is going to digitally alter her now-famous figure.
"I see a lot of the photos that go onto the screen, the raw images, and we talk about not Photoshopping this and, 'Oh, can you take that zit off of my face away?'" she told ET. "I believe in a little bit, but when you're reconstructing my body, when you're reshaping my hips and my thighs and you're taking certain cellulite away -- Hello! I talk about it! I have cellulite. It's like, don't do that, because the customer realizes and the girl who follows me realizes it's just overdone. There is a tasteful way to do it."
Find out what else she had to say about the modeling industry and why she decided to wait until marriage to have sex with her husband in the video below.