'For me, being accepted was wrapped up in sex'

Why Ashley Graham despises the 'plus-size' label.

Photograph: @theashleygraham/Instagram

Ashley Graham, who has become the first 'plus-size' model to make it to the Forbes magazine's highest-paid models list, dislikes the term plus-size.

The catwalk star told CBS News that she considered the term 'plus-size' merely another category for the society to be 'divisive' towards women. She added that she despised using the phrase as putting all women of that size and shape under one label is unfair.

'I think that when you use the word 'plus-size' you're putting all these women into a category: 'you don't eat well'; 'you don't work out'; 'you could care less about your body'; 'you're insecure'; 'you have no confidence'," she elaborated.

Graham's comments came after she admitted she once believed that for a woman to be 'pretty', she had to be sexy: 'I'm not going to just give you the story half-a**ed -- I'm going to give it to you full-on. For me, being pretty was wrapped up in sex. Being accepted was wrapped up in sex. I don't want women to think like that. I want them to learn from my mistakes...'

Graham said she always felt like an outsider who was unwelcome in the fashion industry due to her body shape: 'For so long I have been an outsider because of my size. I think that fashion has always in some way catered to celebrities or to a thinner idealistic model.'

But, she added, 'I think now it's changing because of voices like mine.'