Ashley Graham Wanted Her Barbie to Have ‘Thick Thighs, Lower Belly Fat, Round Arms, Cellulite’

variety.com:

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor 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 Variety” 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.