Former Sports Illustrated model Cheryl Tiegs has stuck her foot in her mouth. She recently discussed the cover of Sports Illustrated’s yearly Swimsuit issue with E! News, and what she had to say was disheartening, to say the least.
She told E! that she is not a fan of “full-figured” model Ashley Graham being on the cover of Sports Illustrated because “it’s glamorizing [full-figured women],” which she feels is a problem. Why? Because Dr. Oz says that your waist should be less than 35 inches. Let the record show that Ashley Graham’s waist is actually 30 inches, which according to Dr. Oz is still a healthy waist size.
Moving on from that nonsense, she didn’t help her case as she continued: “No, I don’t think it’s healthy. Her face is beautiful. Beautiful. But I don’t think it’s healthy in the long run.”
Cheryl then tried to do damage control on Twitter, posting, “To clarify re bodyweight. Being anorexic/bulimic/overweight all connected to health problems. I want all to be as healthy as they can.”
Predictably, this blew up in her face. One Twitter user responded, “Thank you Cheryl Tiegs for sending the message out to the youth saying you shouldn’t love yourself unless your waist is less than 35 (inches).”
Cheryl has since taken her original tweet down and replaced it with this apology:
My sincere apologies to everyone I have hurt. I truly just want everyone to be healthy & happy.
— Cheryl Tiegs (@CherylTiegs) February 26, 2016
Hopefully this will be the end of her body-shaming days.