Robyn Lawley Gets Real About Plus-Size Modeling And Body Diversity

Robyn Lawley is much more than your average supermodel.

When the Australian model is not gracing the pages of some of the biggest fashion magazines in the world, including Sports Illustrated and Vogue, Lawley is tackling body diversity issues, standing up against coal mining practices and juggling her career with motherhood.

RELATED: Robyn Lawley Wants Us To Stop Using The Term 'Plus-Size'
RELATED: Former ‘Sports Illustrated’ Model Slams Current Cover Girl Ashley Graham Over Her Weight

Did we mention, she also has her own swimwear line, food blog and is dabbling in the film industry on the side?

The 26-year-old, who is in Australia as an ambassador for Pantene, spoke to Yahoo7 Lifestyle about taking on the fashion industry as a plus-size model, juggling motherhood with her hectic career and how Victoria's Secret models may just be "freaks of nature".

Congratulations on your second spread for Sports Illustrated. How does it feel?
It feels for me like the very fist time because I wasn’t there last year for any of the events, because I was having my baby. So this time was awesome. Everything in America is on such a bigger level than, Australia so it’s just interesting to watch.

How did you get back in shape after your pregnancy?
I’m definitely real. I’m normal. It was six months after my baby (the shoot) but I didn’t feel like I was at my best. You’re going to need a long time to heal. This is what really frustrates me. People ask how Victoria Secret models can go back on the catwalk after having a baby. Well I just don’t know, I think those women are just freaks of nature. My belly was not like that at all and I had a very big baby so I’m still now just trying to get my muscles back together. You have to wait a year for your muscles even to come back.

There was no pressure from Sports Illustrated for me to lose weight and it’s definitely the most body-inclusive issue size-wise ever. Not everyone likes that body type. Some people like seeing a body they can relate to.

How did you feel when you saw Ashley Graham made the cover?
Amazing. Ashley is super curvy, so it’s changing and this is going to be the biggest game-changer ever in terms of getting that notion that girls of different sizes can be just as fashion-forward, just as cool.

I think having girls like Ashley - strong girls who don’t want to change and are happy in their bodies - the more women will realise they can think like that and be happy with their bodies. Men don’t care as much as we think they do about the majority of the stuff. You’ve got to do it for you at the end of the day, because that’s the only person that’s going to make you go for a run.

You’ve said you want people to stop using the term plus-size, why is that?
I don’t understand why we can’t just be called models and when a client calls to book a model they can’t just ask for a size. The problem is that we’re being segregated into modeling just for plus-size fashion and up. Plus-size starts at size 14 and works up so when we’re modeling for size 20, that’s not representative of their market and that segregates them. Yet there’s the exact same problem with the mainstream fashion and that is infuriating to watch happen.

Do you think fashion designers use plus-size models for publicity?
Yeah, they’re doing it for a statement. They want to sell. They want to make the media because if they weren’t doing it for a statement, they would have three or four girls each show. Unfortunately shock sells and I’ve had this unfortunate thing happen, where a few years ago I would get to walk a few different cool shows every season and now my problem is I’m too small in the plus-world. So when they want to make a statement they’re not going to make a statement with my body type. It’s like: ‘Are you kidding me? Your models are all half my size and you’re saying I’m too small?’. I think that’s the most offensive thing you could do to our community.

So you're too small for plus-size modeling now?
My size hasn’t changed from the start. I’ve always been like that. It’s like when Crystal Renn or Sophie Dahl used to model and they would lose a little bit of weight and then they would just be completely chopped. I actually haven’t lost any weight. We’re becoming more accepting of a bigger size but we’re still not accepting every day girls and that’s kind of mind-blowing to me.

How do you feel about models being ‘skinny-shamed’?
It’s not the models. When you hold a body accountable at that level and if they get scrutinized, that girl suffers. It’s not a community that suffers it’s one individual poor girl that’s probably starving from Russia. It’s not her fault, it’s everyone else involved. It’s the designers that refuse to use other sizes when it’s very easy to, it’s agents pushing this mentality that the girls have to be crazy thin and it all just works in a vicious circle that keeps going along.

How are you juggling your career with motherhood?
Ripley (Lawley’s one-year-old daughter) is a very easy baby. I have a limit. One trip without her I’m done and then I’ll come get her if I have to. I love motherhood. I find her remarkable and beautiful and amazing, Now the biggest fear I have is losing her. It’s an intense fear every single day it kind of grips you up. I didn’t think I’d like motherhood this much. I’ve surprised myself. It’s changed my perspective on the world. You become calm and a lot more patient and you just don’t care as much about the small things.

What’s the one thing you would like to teach Ripley about life?
To be connected and go back to nature. When all else fails and you feel like crap, go for a hike. My family, we’re a bunch of atheists, we have no religion. We have no church - our church is our nature. I’m going to make that apparent for her. Go camping, go somewhere amazing and just be gob-smacked by Mother Nature.

What’s your exercise routine like?
If I can work out three or four times a week I’m stoked with myself. That’s an intense work out, so not like walk in the park. Usually it’s three days a week, if I get time I’ll do four. But I like working out. I have to con my way into getting my workouts because it’s hard when you’ve got a child, you have to barter with your man.

After I was pregnant I got diagnosed with systemic lupus with APS. I’m fine now. You just have to live with the knowledge that you could have an attack, you just don’t know when. Going under the stress of having a baby, which is probably the most a woman can go through, I just wasn’t prepared for it.