Tyra Banks

From model to role model

Tyra Banks is retiring her wings to focus on Phase Two of her career, writes Maria Elena Fernandez

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Tyra Banks is retiring her wings to focus on Phase Two of her career, writes Maria Elena Fernandez

When Tyra Banks sashayed down the Victoria's Secret catwalk in trademark Angel wings for the last time Wednesday, she traded in her image as a glamorous supermodel in favor of her new calling: a down-home, just-one-of-the- girls media star.

Banks, who turns 32 next month and probably could pose in US$10 million (HK$78 million) diamond-jeweled bras for a few more years, is quitting modeling, she says, while "the phone is still ringing."

But that's not the only reason the first black woman to land the covers of GQ, the Victoria's Secret catalog and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is stepping off the runway now. Banks is busy trying to build the media empire she has been dreaming about since she began her modeling career in Paris as a teenager.

"Phase Two" is what she likes to call this new career chapter, which includes her hit UPN reality show franchise, America's Next Top Model, and her two-month-old - and so far, modestly successful - syndicated talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.

It's an ambitious and in some ways unlikely transformation for Banks, who became a celebrity based on her almost unreal beauty and who now promotes herself as a real woman who's not afraid to confess her own flaws and insecurities. Forget the past, Banks says what we're seeing now is the true Tyra Banks.

"The beginning of my modeling career was about myself," Banks said. "It was about how many covers can I get, or how many doors can I knock down - because so many people were telling me as a black model I wouldn't be able to accomplish certain things and I wouldn't be successful in the fashion industry - so it was all about me, me, me, me!

"And now with the young girls that write me about their insecurities and how they say that me being open and honest helps them has brought me here to this place. So instead of me, me, me - of course, it's still my show, it's still my name on the show - now with the success I've had, I have the power to change. It's using all of that to give back."

The way that Banks goes about it, with her hey-girlfriend style and confessional approach, appeals to the multicultural women who laugh and cry with her on her show when she reveals what a romantic breakup felt like, makes fun of her cellulite and removes all of her makeup on camera.

"I saw her walk onto the stage, and she was so much skinnier than I had expected," said Malinda Eubanks of San Diego. "But then she sits down and starts to interview someone and she leans over and she has this fat roll over her pants, and I'm like, `She's human."'

But Banks' keeping-it-real manner does not sit well with many critics who have wondered if Banks' talk show has become a narcissistic forum for working out her personal issues: Banks has undergone an on-stage sonogram to prove that she does not have breast implants and confronted a porn actress who goes by the name of Tyra Banxxx.

And she has invited longtime rival Naomi Campbell to air out their differences on the Friday show.

"I've done that throughout my whole entire career, actually, as a model," Banks said. "I would do a Victoria's Secret interview, and I might tell the interviewer about my cellulite.

"But I think on the talk show, because it's my show, it's standing out a lot more. When I show photos before and after retouching, I still like the after.

"I'm still a victim of this society and what's considered beautiful. So if I have control over a photo, I will clean that up, fix that up. But I feel it's my responsibility to say this ain't real, this is entertainment. This is an image, but this ain't me."

To that end, Banks readily points out "my fake hair, my fake eyelashes" and on a recent episode lifted her dress to show her girdle to a young man in the audience who admitted to fantasizing sexually about her. Banks went so far as to tell the stunned man that she has cellulite on her buttocks, a main topic on an upcoming episode.

Her breasts, however, are another matter, and Banks admits it's one rumor she has not been able to shake. (Indeed, a Google search for "Tyra Banks breasts" brings up 491,000 entries).

"It was about feeling frustrated that people thought this and I'm selling bras to little girls and women and I didn't do this! I didn't do this! This is what nature gave me," she said.

"It's easy to say to myself, `I don't care.' But whenever I hear it, it really gets to me. And it's not because I have something against implants. If you want to buy it, go ahead. This hair? It ain't mine. No big deal."

The media backlash - the stories that claimed that this show, in which Banks ordered the men in the audience to leave so a doctor on stage could give her a checkup and compare her sonogram to another woman's who did have implants, was a self-absorbed ratings stunt - surprised Banks.

"The show was 100 percent personal, but I didn't think it would be as big as it was," she said. "It was just something I wanted to do and now I feel so good. If anybody writes or says that I'm fake, I couldn't care less anymore."

Banks got teary during the episode - and there's a good reason for that, explains her mother, Carolyn London, who has worked alongside her daughter for 15 years and appears on the talk show regularly.

"It was just one more area of showing that she's human and that she has feelings," London said. "For her, it was a cleansing, an opportunity... Everything she's doing is an effort to wipe away the mystique, the whole thing about being a model."

Banks said letters and e-mails poured in from girls and women who were touched by her revelations of insecurity and self-doubt in her 1998 book, Tyra's Beauty Inside & Out.

In it, Banks told stories of feeling desperate at age 11 when she unexplainably lost 18 kilograms after reaching her 1.82-meter frame and everyone thought she had an eating disorder.

Later, after her body filled out and she had moved to Paris at 17 to become a fashion model, she was criticized in the industry for her large forehead ("they called it a fivehead") and her voluptuousness. Translation: "I was too fat." "I go in and out of insecurity like everyone else," Banks said.

Banks' ongoing dialogue with her readers motivated her to create T Zone, a self-esteem-building summer camp for 13- and 14-year-old girls.

Her work with "my girls" at T Zone, coupled with the reality TV craze, led Banks to develop America's Next Top Model, the show that helped turn UPN in 2003 from a men's network (think wrestling and Star Trek) to one that appealed to young women.

A fan of The Real World, who wished that American Idol filmed the singers behind the scenes of their performances, Banks said the idea to blend those two shows in the world of modeling "hit me in my face" one morning while she was making tea.

Her agent was skeptical, but UPN President Dawn Ostroff bought the show in a matter of hours. In its fifth cycle, the show is No1 in its time slot among 18- to 34-year-old women.

"The core of America's Next Top Model is about who you are inside and breaking down all the barriers for these girls so they can get to know their real selves and let the real them come out and blossom," Ostroff said.

The first season wasn't easy for Banks, who says even members of her staff disrespected her because they expected her to act like a "stupid supermodel."

"People who worked for me came up and apologized after seeing that I was in the editing bay every single day and that the show was very successful."

The show's success helped Telepictures Productions sell Banks' syndicated talk show, which is available in 90 percent of US markets, said Telepictures president Jim Paratore.

Paratore and his staff started talking to Banks about hosting her own daily talk show about five years ago when she was appearing monthly on Oprah.

"We were sold on Tyra before Top Model, but it did help us sell other people on buying the show - not only because of the popularity and the ratings but because she basically redefined the UPN network," Paratore said.

"There's not a lot of people like Tyra who have the ability to cross over from topics with real people ... and then also sit down and feel comfortable with a celebrity or go out and do a field tape bit."

LOS ANGELES TIMES

^ that was a great article. thanks for that

These are the photos i was asking about earlier. anybody know the source?

*warning: nudity (although it's blurred)

hey megkween,

those are screencaps from a movie called "Inferno" (1992). It was made for t.v. and was about an author trying to get through his writer's block or something. . .but he had too many distractions ----- in the form of Tyra, Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigova, Kate Moss, and a few others.

hey megkween,

those are screencaps from a movie called "Inferno" (1992). It was made for t.v. and was about an author trying to get through his writer's block or something. . .but he had too many distractions ----- in the form of Tyra, Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigova, Kate Moss, and a few others.

oohh ok! thanks for clearing that up

photographed by Andrew Eccles

photographed by Amber Gray

http://rapidshare.de/files/8423188/Cr-Tyra...Secret.avi.html

This is a vid of Lady Tyra working the runway during the VS fashion shows from Fashion TV...

Pretty good, if I say so meself.

Cheers and happy holidays, lads.

M

Could someone post the new Christmas VS commercial caps?

Thanks:)

Tyra is going to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

I'm still not a huge fan or anything, but she was great on Leno.

http://rapidshare.de/files/8423188/Cr-Tyra...Secret.avi.html

This is a vid of Lady Tyra working the runway during the VS fashion shows from Fashion TV...

Pretty good, if I say so meself.

Cheers and happy holidays, lads.

M

It's asking for some IGL code when I try to download..?

A clip from Entertainment Now of Tyra and Naomi

http://rapidshare.de/files/8573454/Enterta..._-_VCD.mpg.html

thank you suzuki-chris, tyra hate no

http://rapidshare.de/files/8423188/Cr-Tyra...Secret.avi.html

This is a vid of Lady Tyra working the runway during the VS fashion shows from Fashion TV...

Pretty good, if I say so meself.

Cheers and happy holidays, lads.

M

It's asking for some IGL code when I try to download..?

The code is right at the bottom--it is written in red. 3 letters or numbers--then press start download...

I'm still not a huge fan or anything, but she was great on Leno.

Wasn't she fab?

She really does know how to sit down, get laughs and give a decent interview--she's a talk show host, so it shouldn't be hard.

Works off of Jay Leno well.

Will we be getting a video of the interview any time soon? I didn't get to see the entire thing. <_<

oooh! i wanna c a video too! has she doneany other media appearances lately?? u think she would seein as though it's her last vs show...hmmm?

anyway.....here's an article from cbs early show..

Tyra Banks Takes Final Spin on Runway

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(AP)

(AP) The runway is now behind Tyra Banks. Her final cruise down the catwalk was the Victoria's Secret show, which is being broadcast Tuesday on CBS at 10 p.m. EST.

She "retired" wearing a red lace bra and underwear with a belt made of military-style medallions, kicking up her high heels with Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell at her side.

With two TV shows _ her daily talk show and "America's Next Top Model" _ Banks hadn't been doing much modeling anyway, and she wanted to go out on top.

She still looks good, mind you, as she prepares to turn 32 on Sunday. You could even say she looks great. She spoke to The Associated Press just before the Victoria's Secret show, wearing a red satin robe, sneakers and her signature long lashes.

AP: Are you really retiring from the runway, not just taking a break?

Banks: I'm not just retiring from the runway, I'm retiring from all modeling. God, I love saying that! When I was 18, my mom said I have to have a plan. I decided I'd leave on top. I want to be like the athletes who seem stuck in time. When you see them at 50, you say they probably can still run like a champ.

AP: Did you get to choose what you'd wear in this Victoria's Secret show _ a black satin corset, an embellished push-up bra with a beaded organza cape adorned with feathers and that red lace number with a crystal-covered baton?

Banks: They gave me sketches and I chose my three favorites. I've never had that clout before. Retiring is good.

AP: Are you confident that your new career as a TV host will be successful?

Banks: "America's Next Top Model" is shooting its sixth season. I created a template and I don't have to baby-sit it anymore. The talk show, I have to be devoted to that. I'm proud of it, but it's not exactly what I want it to be _ yet.

AP: Now that you'll have a bit more free time, what will you do?

Banks: I love going to the movies. I keep a list in my purse of what I want to see. (She pulls out a list of more than 25 titles ranging from "Good Night, and Good Luck" to "The Constant Gardener.") I try to see movies whenever I can. I saw "Flightplan" and "Capote" from this list.

AP: Any other hobbies?

Banks: I love TV, too. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Commander in Chief." I so want (Geena Davis) on my show. She was a model and now she's president of the United States!

AP: Do you think your experience as a top black model was different from a top white model?

Banks: I wanted to be the girl next door like Cindy Crawford, but I am a black model and that meant I broke down a lot of doors. When I look at young black models today, I hope they can just walk through the doors like everyone else.

AP: Models often lead a jet-set life. Will you be more of a homebody now?

Banks: I live in an apartment. I gave my mom my house in L.A. It's a beautiful Spanish house. I lived there a year, but it felt empty. I wasn't scared but I like nooks and small spaces. It helps me focus.

AP: Models aren't always known for their model behavior. How do you deal with being a celebrity?

Banks: Well, I don't think of myself as a diva. I'm too dorky! Look at my shoes. (Points to the aforementioned sneakers.) I always look like this. I don't always want to be "working." I don't want to have to put on that "thing" _ I call it "the thing" when I have to do my hair, put on the lashes, get dressed up. When I go out for potato chips, I just want to go out looking like myself, which means you will see bad pictures of me. There probably are some out there right now, but it's just part of the life.

MMV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

here's the link, nice pic attached.. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/03/...C-SearchStories

From an email from wireimage: