Meet Ashley Graham's Husband Justin Ervin and Learn How They Met
'Porn Sunday' was not at all what you'd expect.
Ashley Graham was the very first size 16 model to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in 2016, the first to be on the cover of Vogue a year later and the first to get a deal with a major beauty brand (Revlon, in 2018). So it’s not surprising that Graham’s husband, Justin Ervin, has claimed that “impressive” is too small a word for his wife.
Modeling since the age of 12, the 35-year-old Graham ultimately jumped into the business side of modeling after an agent kept telling her that she couldn’t do a lingerie line for plus-size women. Since then, she’s designed both a lingerie and wedding gown line, appeared on reality shows and in music videos, and even wrote a book called A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like. And she really wants a talk show.
“I don’t show off my body on social media because I want to, or because I’m trying to get likes,” Graham has said. “I’m doing it for a younger generation that didn’t get to see someone who had lumps, bumps, and an imperfect body which looked like theirs." She even posted a photo of her stretch marks while she was pregnant in 2021 with twins—and relayed in a NSFW post on Instagram that “Justin says my stretch marks look like the tree of life."
Keep reading to find out all about Ashley Graham's husband, Justin Ervin, including how they met on “Porn Sunday,” the reason she kept dating him after he handed her the check on their first date, how her family reacted when they discovered he was Black, how their first baby shower was bigger than their wedding, and their secrets for a lasting marriage.
Related: Meet the Spy Kids Star Who Grew Up to Be Meghan Trainor's Future Husband
Who is Ashley Graham married to?
The model has been married for 12 years to Ervin, who works as a filmmaker.
How old is Ashley Graham's husband, Justin Ervin?
Ervin was born Dec. 31, 1988, making him 34 years old. He's just one year older than his wife who was born Oct. 30, 1987.
What does Ashley Graham's husband Justin Ervin do for a living?
Ervin calls himself a producer and a “filmmaker at large” on his Instagram page. His website more clearly defines him as a director, cinematographer and image maker. He grew up in Georgia with his parents, sister and brother, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York’s School of Visual Arts. He started his own company, Elements, in 2013; it’s dedicated to “excellence in digital motion picture imaging. He’s worked with Vogue, CNN, Adobe, Guess and more, and has made his own short films as well. His short documentary, Elephant in the Room, won a number of festival awards.
How did Ashley Graham meet her husband, Justin Ervin?
Graham and Ervin met in the most unlikely place for a model and a filmmaker to meet: at church... on “Porn Sunday.” Their church had different themes, and that day, “they had ex-porn stars talking to the congregation about how porn ruined their lives,” Graham explained in 2016. The two met in an elevator where Graham was volunteering as a greeter, and Ervin stepped onto the elevator with a friend. “If you don’t talk to her, I will,” she heard a voice say, and the friend left the elevator. Ervin rode up and down with Graham a few times, and at first, she didn’t think he was her type. But he was funny and smart, and seemed to look into her soul as they talked.
Ervin shocked Graham on their first official date (coffee) by handing her the check. She paid for her portion and was ready to cut him off. He persuaded her to go out again though, and asked to let him explain. “I’m going to pay for dinner tonight. And I’m going to pay for the next dinner after that. When you told me you were a model, I assumed you were one of those beautiful women who uses guys for a fancy dinner,” she recalled him saying. “I don’t play that game. I do well for myself, and I’ve been burned because of it. I don’t want to go out with anyone who only has me around so I can pay for stuff.” She was floored by how open and communicative he was.
So she kept seeing him. “My romance with Justin was innocent and sweet," she's said. "We went rollerblading and biking; we did karaoke, went to the movies, took an improv class together. Because we weren’t sleeping together—for Justin, abstinence was a firm commitment to his faith—we never tempted ourselves by going over to each other’s apartments late at night.” The two didn’t have sex until they were married.
When did Ashley Graham get married to husband Justin Ervin?
Graham and Ervin used to have a private webcam show they called The Justin and Ashley Show (only they’ve seen it) and in one “episode” after about a year of dating, Justin steered the conversation to proposals. “You’re never going to marry me,” she said.
Ervin asked how he would do it, and Graham rattled off some suggestions. “Actually,” he said, “I would do it like this,” pulling out a ring. “I thought it was a joke” at first, Graham said later. Ervin helped design the piece himself, choosing a brushed gold, stackable ring with a flat diamond.
Graham agreed to having a wedding instead of putting the money toward a house, but “I said, 'you're marrying a girl that doesn't care about weddings so—you plan it, and I'll just show up,’” Graham told him. “Sure enough, he planned the whole thing with a wedding planner.” The affair itself, which happened in August 2010, was pretty low-key by Hollywood standards, since neither of them were celebs at the time. “It was a celebration of what the rest of our lives were going to be and celebrating the most important people in our lives,” she remembered later.
The model even wore a dress she bought off the rack; Ervin had wanted to be married two months after the proposal, so there was no time to wait for a dress to be made. The difficulty Graham had finding her gown was a factor that later led to her own wedding gown line with Pronovias, a major wedding gown designer. “Shopping for wedding gowns off the rack isn't always easy for curvy girls," she recalled. "Therefore, the main priority [with the Pronovias gown line] was to offer a wide range of different styles and sizes for all body types, and the second priority was comfortability.”
Does Ashley Graham have children with husband Justin Ervin?
On their ninth wedding anniversary, Graham and Ervin announced they’d be having a child in an Instagram video. She entered into the “secret society” of pregnant women, with celebs like Amy Schumer and Serena Williams giving her advice and tips during her pregnancy. Graham and Ervin had a baby shower that was “bigger than my wedding,” she said at the time. It was a little different than most baby showers; guests could get manicures, tattoos and piercings during the event. Their first son, Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin, was born in January 2020.
And he wasn’t the only January baby they had! Graham announced a second pregnancy with a photo in summer of 2021, following it up with a video of the moment when she and Ervin found out that they’d be having twins. "Is that twins?” Graham says, as Ervin says, “You are joking me!”
She delivered the twins, Malachi and Roman, at home in January 2022. “My boys have been the greatest teachers and biggest reminders that I can do hard things,” she said on Instagram last month, sharing a photo of the twins breastfeeding. “This has not been easy, but it’s so worth it. Still can’t believe I have 3 children.”
Graham and Ervin have a mutual admiration society when it comes to observing the other’s parenting. “I can’t express how to describe what I witness day-to-day as [she] takes every moment of every second to take care of our new little boys,” he said in his own Instagram post, cropping the photo to more closely show Graham’s face. “‘Impressive’ is too small. ‘Amazing’ is closer. ‘Mother’ is perfect. I love you.”
In 2021, Graham praised the job her husband was doing, on Father’s Day, “Isaac is so fortunate to have such a supportive, loving, compassionate, and incredible dad like you,” she said. “Getting to witness you be a father is the greatest gift.”
Was Ashley Graham’s family racist toward her husband Justin Ervin?
Growing up in Nebraska, Graham didn’t know many Black people. Her own mother hadn’t even met a Black person until she was 18. Still, Graham didn’t think it would be a big deal to bring Ervin home–she didn’t even mention his skin color to the family beforehand. And well, that made things uncomfortable.
"My mom tried to not make it a big deal, but Grandma made it a big deal… she couldn't even look him in the eye. I mean, it was horrifying,” she told CBS Sunday Morning in 2017. "And I will never forget that feeling of just sitting there with Justin, thinking, 'I'm so embarrassed that I had to bring him in to meet these people, these people who raised me and taught me how to live, and he's being treated so terribly.' And he said to me, 'Racism is never surprising, but it's always disappointing.'" Graham was overwhelmed, shocked and upset by the reception Ervin got.
How did Ervin get through to Grandma? By calling her on her 60th wedding anniversary. “Afterward, Grandma called my mom and said, 'You’ll never guess who called me,’” Graham relates in her book. “And from then on out, she loved him. Loved him." It took a little longer than one phone call for everyone to be completely comfortable, but “it all worked out,” Graham reiterated to PEOPLE later, saying it can work out “as long as people are willing to work.”
What is Ashley Graham’s secret to a good marriage?
Graham says that she and Ervin understand each other, especially because they both had to “teach people how to respect us.” And they work hard to constantly support each other. “You're not just talking about your career, but you're also talking about their career,” she told Harpers Bazaar. “It's not just about your emotions but it's about their emotions. Everything is shared, and it's 50/50. And there will be some days where you get all of it, but the next day is all of theirs. You have to figure out what that balance is for both of you."They make vision boards together and every year on their anniversary they do a mini-analysis to discuss how their relationship is doing. “He’s my number one but he’s really like the coach of life, for me,” she says.
And there’s one more thing that makes marriage work: lots of sex. “Just have sex. Have sex all the time. Even if you don’t feel like it, just have sex,” she once said during an interview.“I have found that if we haven’t had sex, we get snippy, and then if we are having sex, we’re all over each other … For us it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s have sex.’ And then we’re just right back in a great mood.”
Graham and Ervin are looking forward to forever with each other and building a relationship that is more than two people in love. “Thanks to Justin’s constant communication, I envisioned a marriage that was more than just two people loving each other,” she says in her book. “And now we have that marriage: a partnership dedicated to building something bigger than ourselves.”
