Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour; Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock
Ashley Graham is opening up about her personal life with Gwyneth Paltrow.
The 31-year-old model, author and designer is the latest celeb guest on the Goop podcast. On the episode, Graham opens up about meeting her husband of eight years, filmmaker Justin Ervin, and how they waited until they were married to have sex. The couple’s love story is so sweet, it leaves Paltrow in tears.
Graham starts off her story on the episode by telling Gwyneth that she had been dating this “terrible guy” in her early 20s who was “mentally, physically, emotionally abusive.” She explains that she stayed in the relationship for two years, one of which she hid the romance, because she didn’t know her “worth.”
When she decided to leave him, Graham explains to Paltrow, she finally found her worth.
“I knew that I was a stronger woman for breaking up with him, and in feeling stronger for breaking up with him I was like, ‘What is it that I need to do to change myself so I don’t get back into that situation?'” Graham shares on the episode. “And in that ‘aha’ moment, I was like, my problem is I keep giving it up too soon, I keep having sex too soon with these guys.”
After realizing this, Graham made the decision that she’s not going to have sex again until she’s married. She then went on to share that her mom made her go to church after a “little issue with some tequila” which led to her showing up at her agency “a little drunk.”
“My mom said, ‘rehab or church,’ and I was like, ‘I’m not an alcoholic, so I’ll just go to church,'” Graham recalls.
She later found herself volunteering at church one Sunday as an “elevator lady.” Graham explains to Paltrow that while she was volunteering two men came in and one guy said to the other guy, “If you don’t talk to her I am.”
“And the next thing ya know, Justin, my husband, was the one who stayed in the elevator,” Graham says. The two ended up going on a coffee date, but then he didn’t pay for the coffee.
“So I was like, great, I have another cheap guy,” Graham says. “And he said that a man always appreciates it when a woman attempts to grab her wallet. So I was through with him, girl, I erased his number, done.”
A month went by and then Graham saw Ervin at church, who approached her and told her he wanted to take her out again, this time he’ll pay.
“He said, ‘I have been taken advantage of and I have had women use me for a steak dinner, I don’t want that, I’m looking for a wife,'” Graham recalls.
The duo then went out on a second date and became “inseparable.”
“And he and I did not break my rule, and his rule as well, because I didn’t know that he was also trying to wait until he was married to have sex as well,” Graham tells Paltrow.
“I have to tell you, in all my podcasts this is the only time I’ve cried since Oprah,” Paltrow says after hearing the couple’s love story.
To hear more from Graham’s interview with Paltrow, head on over to Goop.
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