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Ashley Graham's Maxim cover accused of 'too much Photoshop' on plus-size model.

Ashley Graham has become the first ever plus-size model to appear on the cover of US magazine Maxim, but fans have reacted angrily, accusing the men’s glossy of airbrushing away her curves and doing a disservice to the plus-size community.

Graham, a 28-year-old from Nebraska, shared an image of the landmark cover with her 1.5 million Instagram followers on Tuesday, but was swiftly met with cries she was the victim of “too much Photoshop”.

ASHLEY gRAHAM MAXIM COVER in post
The cover in question. Image via Maxim.
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“Definitely Photoshopped,” one of Graham’s followers wrote.

“That’s unfortunate after everything you stand for Ashley, your curves are gorgeous and Maxim should not have minimised who you are. Shame on them!”

“It’s a shame they photoshopped her to appear slimmer,” another said.

“If you want to be [empowering] and real I dare you to leave the rolls, cellulite, fat, uneven skin tone and bulge,” wrote Lulu Valentina on Facebook.

The photographer behind the shoot, Gilles Bensimon, responded to critics on Instagram, insisting his pictures of Graham had not been slimmed.

“In fact [almost no Photoshop], sorry to disappoint you,” Bensimon wrote.

Graham is yet to publicly address the accusations but told Entertainment Tonight earlier this week she was against having her figure significantly digitally altered.

“I believe in a little bit, but when you’re reconstructing my body, when you’re reshaping my hips and my thighs and you’re taking certain cellulite away — Hello! I talk about it!” Graham said.

“I’ve got cellulite. It’s like, don’t do that, because the customer realises and the girl who follows me realises it’s just overdone. There is a tasteful way to do it.”

Graham has recently become a poster girl for curvy women, appearing on billboards and buses around the US as part of plus-size fashion label Lane Bryant’s “I’m No Angel Campaign” in 2015.

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She made headlines in February after landing the high-profile cover of Sports Illustrated’s 2016 Swimsuit Edition, apparently the first non-sample size cover model in the magazine’s history.

“I am honoured,” Graham told New York Magazine at the time.

“At the end of the day, I know that I’m changing so many different women’s lives by proving that curves come in all different shapes and sizes. Covers are huge, especially for girls like me because we’ve always been told, ‘You can’t be on the cover, you’ll never be on the cover’.”

However, some have argued Graham is a “safe” choice in larger models and that magazines should feature women of all shapes and sizes.

“[Maxim] won’t put anyone bigger than her on a magazine cover for a long time,” Izzy Serious said on Twitter.

Meanwhile others have said they resent the notion that Maxim’s inclusion as a plus-size model was “some kind of win”.

Regardless of whether Graham’s Maxim cover was Photoshopped, not everyone was displeased — many fans tripped over one another to cheer her on.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.

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