Cheryl Tiegs attacked Sports Illustrated model Ashley Graham during an interview with E! when Tiegs was asked how she felt about Graham landing one of three SI cover shots. Tiegs responded,
“I don’t like that we’re talking about full-figured women because it’s glamorizing them because your waist should be smaller than 35 [inches].”
Slaying Curves Cannot Be Denied!
Tiegs has enjoyed fame as a super model and actress and has graced the cover of SI twice. She may have believed this made her an expert on body type and health. Tieg now knows a social media cadre exists in the cyberworld of Twitter and Black Twitter. They don’t allow for such disrespect.
Is There Anything Worse Than An Empty Apology?
Either Tieg or her publicist thought there would be less shade thrown Tieg’s way way if she hit Twitter and delivered an empty apology. That’s what it was, at best.
My sincere apologies to everyone I have hurt. I truly just want everyone to be healthy & happy.
— Cheryl Tiegs (@CherylTiegs) February 26, 2016
Is it just me, or was Tiegs intentionally vague in that very generalized apology? She was certainly given to a wider vocabulary when she was praising Dr. Oz and calling people “fat” and “unhealthy.”
Graham Handled Things Like A Boss
Graham said the following in response to Tieg’s rant:
“Cheryl Tiegs may have said what she said, and it may have hurt a lot of people’s feelings, but my skin is so thick. I kind of rolled my eyes. I was like, ‘Oh, whatever, another one of these ladies.’ But what’s great is that, the fact that she said it, it means that other women think like her. And what that means is that we really need to change the industry.”
As for the concern that she may be unhealthy, Graham said,
“That is not for Tiegs to judge.”
Tiegs: Epic. Fail.
There isn’t enough time or space for me to name all the reasons Tiegs needs to sit down and shut up. So I’ll go with the top three.
1) Ashley Graham has curves that slay. Period. The End.
2) She earned the cover spot, “thickness” and all. Be a good sport.
3)Graham gives hope to girls whose body type leans towards curves and not, straight up and down.
Graham Stays Winning: She’s In A Position To Inspire
Graham is undeniably beautiful. May she use her reign as curvy cover queen for good, and encourage girls to dream about what they can become. The arts are limitless and dreams hold promises. Of this be certain. Tiegs won’t become relevant again because of this. Nice try though.
Featured Image is by EventPhotosNYC, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution-Noncommercial license.
