Ashley Graham celebrated her 13th wedding anniversary with Justin Ervin by sharing a gorgeous throwback photo from their 2019 vacation on the Amalfi Coast.
While celebrating another year of marriage, the model, 35, wrote a heartfelt tribute to her husband, whom she first met in 2009 when she was volunteering for her church in New York City.
’13 goes on forever, I love you Justin. Happy birthday,” the Sports Illustrated cover girl captioned the postcard-worthy image, in which she and Ervin, 34, stared at each other in admiration.
In the picture, the mother-of-two put her arm around his waist while aboard a yacht, with the cameraman standing proudly beside her as he smiled gleefully.
The comment section below Graham’s post was flooded with congratulations from fans and their celebrity friends, including Adrienne Bailon.
Lovebirds: Ashley Graham celebrated her 13th wedding anniversary with Justin Ervin by sharing a beautiful throwback photo from their vacation on Italy’s Amalfi Coast in 2019
“Love you guys so much,” the 39-year-old Cheetah Girls alum wrote. ‘Happy birthday!’
On Ervin’s Instagram story, he uploaded a sweet photo of his hand resting on hers.
She later shared a car selfie of them together as he drove her around.
After their fateful meeting in 2009, the couple wasted little time to tie the knot the following year.
Ashley and Justin announced they were expecting their first child together on their ninth wedding anniversary and welcomed son Isaac, now three, into the world in January 2020.
The model then revealed that she was expecting twins in the summer of 2021 before giving birth to twins Malachi and Roman at home in January 2022.
Last year, Graham revealed that she nearly died from a horrific hemorrhage while giving birth to her two youngest children.
Remembering the night of her twins’ birth, the model wrote in an essay for Glamor that she delivered both boys home safely — after she went into labor on the toilet at 3:45 a.m.
Going strong: While celebrating another year of marriage, the model, 35, wrote a heartfelt tribute to her husband, who she first met in 2009 when she was volunteering for her church in New York City
But shortly after the twins arrived, she suddenly started bleeding and quickly lost consciousness, forcing her delivery team to spring into action in a desperate attempt to save her life.
The horrific incident left her in bed for four days and unable to walk for a week.
She added that the aftermath of losing her life was “deeply overwhelming” and that the whole experience changed her relationship with her body once and for all, stripping her of the confidence and positivity that her career as the world’s first plus size supermodel.
“The night I gave birth to the twins, I bled,” she recalls.
’13 goes on forever, I love you Justin. Happy Birthday,” the Sports Illustrated cover girl captioned the postcard-worthy image, in which she and 34-year-old Ervin stared at each other in admiration.
“It was 2am when my contractions started. At 3:45 a.m. I went to the bathroom thinking I had to go to the bathroom, and Malachi came out just as my doula arrived, in time to deliver him.”
Roman was born two hours and seven minutes later, and Graham initially said she and her husband, as well as her “skillful” and “intelligent” team of doctors, “all celebrated.”
“We couldn’t believe my labor only lasted three and a half hours, and I was so incredibly thankful for this team of skilled, intelligent and trained professionals around me, who were there for me when I had Isaac, and with me now again for the twins,” she gushed.
Their excitement soon turned to fear, however, when Graham suddenly collapsed.
“The next thing you know, I was looking at my obstetrician and I said, ‘I’m not feeling well.’ I think I should lie down,” and I passed out,” she recalls.
“All I can remember is feeling a light touch on my cheek, which I later found out was actually someone slapping the shit out of my cheek, someone holding my hand, my husband Justin in my ear, praying, and someone poking me with a needle in my arm.
“And I remember seeing darkness and what looked like stars. When I finally came to, I looked around and saw everyone.
“They kept telling me, ‘You’re fine. You’re fine. You’re fine.’ They didn’t want to tell me at the time that I had lost liters of blood.
“They wouldn’t tell me that one of the midwives had to turn me over, put her finger right above my skull bone, and try to stop the bleeding.
“And they wouldn’t tell me that the vein in my arm kept collapsing and they couldn’t get the needle for the Pitocin in, so they should have put it in my hand.
Mother of three: Ashley and Justin announced they were expecting their first child together on their ninth wedding anniversary and welcomed son Isaac, now three, into the world in January 2020
The model then revealed she was expecting twins in the summer of 2021, before giving birth to twin boys Malachi and Roman at home in January 2022 (seen in 2019)
“But while they wouldn’t go into details at the time, I looked around the room, saw blood literally everywhere, and let out a deep, visceral cry—an emotional release from the chaos I’d just experienced.”
Graham explained that she couldn’t even sit up – much less walk – so the doctors carried her to her bed on a sheet.
She stayed in bed for four days straight and did not leave the house for “almost two months.”
“The midwives asked me if I could get up and walk to bed. I could not do it. I couldn’t sit up or even crawl,” she continued.
“So they grabbed a double sheet, rolled me on it, and shoved me down the hallway to my guest bedroom, where I had a trundle bed that I could barely roll on.”
Thank goodness the twins were fine as I lay on that bed for four days straight. I couldn’t walk for a week. And I haven’t left my house for almost two months.’
However, the mother-of-three called it a period full of “joy, learning and laughter, acceptance and recovery.”
She said, “It was a time of joy to be with my husband and my three sons, the rhythm of our new life, learning and laughter, acceptance and recovery.”
Despite being grateful that she and her twins were fine, the mother admitted that she soon began to have trouble accepting her body.
She admitted, “Like so many women, what I went through during childbirth has changed my relationship with my body — and I say this knowing I’m the person who has been shouting from the rooftops to all of you, ‘Love the skin you.’ am inside.’
Scary: Last year, Graham revealed that she nearly died from a horrific hemorrhage while giving birth to her two youngest children; seen in 2023
“But for me, the births of all three of my children threw a lot of that out the window.”
Graham said she was a “wreck” after she recovered from the incident and “didn’t feel like herself anymore physically or emotionally.”
She added that she planned to return to work eight weeks after giving birth, but soon realized that would not be the case.
“I couldn’t walk properly for a long time, let alone exercise. I was shaking, I didn’t feel myself physically or emotionally,” she wrote.
“I planned to be back to work after eight weeks, but I was a wreck and when I saw myself in the mirror I still felt like I looked pregnant.
“I work in an industry that expects me to go back to work in a body that has ‘refurbished’ – a pressure no woman in any industry deserves to feel.
“I’ve always fought against unfair and unrealistic standards and yet, if I’m being honest, I was here expecting to hit back. And fast.’