Cheryl Tiegs Apologizes to Ashley Graham for "Full Figure" Criticism

Model writes an open letter to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl

Cheryl Tiegs would like to apologize to Ashley Graham.

Last week, Tiegs told E! News she wasn't happy with Sports Illustrated's annual Swimsuit Issue featuring "full-figured women." The former S.I. cover girl said that a woman's "waist should be smaller than 35 [inches]," and while she the found Graham's face "beautiful," she didn't think it was "healthy in the long run" to put a curvier model on the magazine's cover.

Graham, not surprisingly, wasn't happy with Tiegs' comments. "But what's great is that—the fact that she said it—it means that other women think like her," she told E! News exclusively at Paris Fashion Week. "And what that means is that we really need to change the industry."

"There are too many people thinking they can look at a girl my size and say that we are unhealthy," Graham noted. "You can't, only my doctor can!"

Tiegs attempted to set the record straight on Twitter, writing (and later deleting), "To clarify re bodyweight. Being anorexic/bulimic/overweight all connected to health problems. I want all to be as healthy as they can."

Graham didn't see that as an apology, though. "I've never personally heard from her," she told E! News earlier this week. "She said her comment about me, then never heard a follow up. People are saying she apologized. But I never heard one."

On Friday, however, Tiegs issued an official apology to Graham via an open letter in The Huffington Post. "I was not equating beauty to weight or size, but unfortunately that is what the media reported in headlines," she wrote. "I was trying to express my concern over media images and the lack of education in America about healthy choices, thus the reference to the 35-inch waist as a guideline to health. I did hear that on Dr. Oz, but it's also stated on websites such as The Center For Disease Control, Harvard University and The American Diabetes Association."

"And by the way," added Tiegs, "my waist is 37 inches."

She addressed her "worry about the influence that print media has on this issue," writing, "If it becomes the norm, then what happens with rates of diabetes, cancer and heart disease? This has nothing to do with beauty."

And just to make sure she got her point across, Tiegs was direct. "Please accept my deepest apology if you were offended or in any way think I was referring to you," she wrote. "I commend you on the positive influence you have on helping women to love themselves."