SI Swimsuit’s Hunter McGrady talks challenges as plus-size model: ‘You have to demand the equal treatment’
When Hunter McGrady graced the pages of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in 2016 at a measurement 18, she broke limitations as their “curviest model ever.” But the star insisted she doesn’t get up daily feeling like a pinup.
“People often ask me, ‘What’s the secret to confidence, what’s the formula?’” mentioned McGrady for her new cowl story shoot with digital journal Story + Rain launched on Friday. “There is none. I still have bad days. To be quite honest, today was one of them. Yesterday was one of them, where all you want to do is lay around, and you don’t want to work on the things you have to do. You don’t feel so great about yourself.”
“It’s OK to have those days,” the 27-year-old continued. “I know it doesn’t define who I am and that confidence is a journey. I always say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is confidence.’ You’re going to be chipping away at it forever, but something beautiful is going to come from it.”
McGrady mentioned her household by no means made her really feel completely different at any level in her life. In truth, she was inspired to embrace who she was, regardless of her measurement.
Hunter McGrady says she responds to her critics with kindness.
(Getty)
“My mother never made my body an issue. Never,” McGrady advised the outlet. “She always celebrated it. She’s from Iceland. We’re very comfortable with who we are in our bodies. She used to always say, and still does, ‘Talking about your body and your weight is so boring. It’s the least interesting thing to talk about. It’s the least interesting thing about you.’ That’s the mindset I grew up with. Thankfully.”
McGrady advised the journal’s founder and editor-in-chief Tamara Rappa on a recent podcast that when it comes to that includes plus-size fashions, the vogue trade has a great distance to go.
“As a plus-sized model – you kind of have to demand the equal treatment and that is what I think [is] the hardest about it,” she defined. “You have to be very loud because you know whether or not we like it, things are changing but at a very slow pace. So, you know, you kind of have to make your space in this industry.”
Back in 2020, McGrady advised Fox News that folks nonetheless have misconceptions about plus-size fashions.
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Model Hunter McGrady attends Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2018 Launch Event at Magic Hour at Moxy Times Square on February 14, 2018, in New York City.
(Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
“A lot of people think that [plus-sized models] are able to eat whatever they want,” she mentioned at the time. “They don’t work out. They just sit at home and lounge around. That is absolutely not the case. I work out with my trainer, and I train daily. People for so long have equated a larger size to be unhealthy. The truth of the matter is that I’m more healthy now than I’ve ever been in my life. It’s a stigma that needs to change.”
McGrady mentioned she’s not solely grateful for her physique, however she’s refusing to change herself for any designer.
“I’m sticking to my guns,” she mentioned. “I am who I am, and I’m not changing for anybody. But the pressure is out there. It may not be said to me personally, but you do see it on social media, on television and magazine ads. I really hope that changes.”
