'Scars are beautiful badges': Model and mother who underwent a double mastectomy poses topless in powerful campaign for Equinox gyms

  • Samantha Paige, a 41-year-old model and artist from Santa Barbara, California, posed for a topless shoot in the new campaign 
  • The mother-of-one had the surgery as a preventative measure after testing positive for the BRCA 1 gene mutation, meaning some cancers were more likely 

By Valerie Siebert For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:15 EST, 5 January 2017 | Updated: 16:07 EST, 5 January 2017

Equinox gym is leading with a different sort of strength in its new ad campaign by featuring a model bearing mastectomy scars.

Santa Barbara, California-based artist Samantha Paige is one of the stars of the new #CommitToSomething campaign, posing for a powerful topless image in a tattoo artist's chair as well as speaking in a video about how her scars are 'beautiful badges, reminding you what you chose to go against'.

When Samantha positively tested for the BRCA 1 gene mutation, which made her susceptible to various female-specific cancers, she had already been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

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A strong look: Samantha Paige, a 41-year-old model and artist from Santa Barbara, California, bares her scars in a new ad campaign for Equinox

With a seven-month-old daughter, she knew that she had to fight for her health with all she had.

' I decided it was the right time to preemptively have the double mastectomy,' the 41-year-old told People. 

'I didn’t want to keep going for MRIs and mammograms every three to six months — it was too unnerving and the risk seemed too great.'

The idea of having serious surgery was obviously 'scary' for the mother, but she knew it was better than living in fear of a diagnosis.

'Sometimes commitment is not about what you stand to gain, but what you’re prepared to lose,' reads one of Samantha's captions from her new campaign.

Following the double mastectomy, she decided to also have reconstructive surgery, but found the implants never felt quite right - she also blames them for a staph infection she fought for four months.

Putting it out there: The mother-of-one had the surgery after testing positive for a gene that meant she was more susceptible to female-specific cancers

Telling it straight: After having implants for a short while, she decided to have them removed

She had them removed and 'felt better immediately'.

She decided that she would be an advocate for body positivity, showing that scars can still be beautiful.

It was this new ethos that led Samantha to agree to take park in the Commit to Something campaign.

'Equinox’s message of Commit to Something is about being able to look at yourself in the mirror and realize who you are and stand up to those values,' she said. 'It just dovetails with what I believe in.'

The usual: Heiress Lydia Hearst appeared to be breastfeeding twin babies in an ad last year

More to go: Jean-Claude Van Damme's daughter Bianca Bree posed as a feminist activist 

A bit removed: The ads appear to have little to do with going to the gym

The featured image shows Samantha lying back topless in a black chair with the right side of her chest exposed and her left being worked on by a tattoo artist. 

'We are made by the commitments we make. How can that be anything less than beautiful?' reads the caption.

The company is no stranger to making bold statements with their advertising. One year ago, they featured Lydia Hearst, the childless granddaughter of of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, breastfeeding twin babies.

In another image, Jean-Claude Van Damme's daughter Bianca Bree is turned into a body-painted women's rights activist.

The campaigns have also featured models appearing to be participating in an orgy, or a woman surrounded by cats - in other words, scenes having little to do with the gym. 

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