Tyra Banks’ Biggest Body Insecurity Was on Full Display in Every Victoria’s Secret Show But You Never Noticed It
- Tyra Banks began modeling at 15 and was one of the highest-paid models by the early 2000s.
- She recently revealed the biggest body insecurity she had and how she managed to keep it to herself all these years.
- She was body-shamed early on in her career but worked through it with the help of her supportive mother.
Tyra Banks is unarguably one of the biggest supermodels that the world has ever witnessed. Throughout her modeling career, she has achieved milestones that can give even the best of models a run for their money. She was 15 when she began modeling professionally and retired in 2005.
She might be one of the biggest supermodels, but she is still a human, and humans tend to have insecurities no matter how famous they are or how huge achievements they have made. Recently, she opened up about one of her biggest insecurities regarding her body, and it might take some by surprise.
Tyra Banks Revealed Her Biggest Insecurity and How She Managed to Keep It from the World Until Now
During her first runway season in 1991, Tyra Banks booked a surprising 25 shows. She also appeared in the editorials of many big publications such as GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. As time passed by, she appeared on the covers of many more magazines and appeared in the marketing campaigns of several big brands such as Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce & Gabbana, and Pepsi.
Besides this, she was the first Black American woman to grace the covers of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and GQ. She is also very famous for her work as a Victoria’s Secret Angel and was the first Black woman to have that title. She held that title from 1997 to 2005. She recently made a comeback to the show as the closing model this year in a black ensemble with a silver cape.
During her recent interview with TODAY‘s style correspondent Zana Roberts Rassi, she said that she was unsure of her outfit, but had one request.
Y’all better not have my booty out. People are like, ‘Oh my God, Tyra’s body is so great.’ Every single Victoria’s Secret show I have ever done, my booty was covered in some kind of way. That was just my kind of insecurity. And it’s still there, I can keep it real.
If there is one thing apart from modeling Banks is always good at, it is being honest. She has always tried to address topics like body image, self-esteem, and the challenges of the modeling industry as honestly as she can.
Tyra Banks Revealed How Her Mother Helped Her Overcome Body Shaming
Despite how amazing Banks has always looked, she had to overcome body shaming once. In fact, it came from one of her management companies no less and she was ready to change herself for that, but her mother helped her get over it. She said:
And (my mom) said, ‘Stop.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And she goes, ‘We’re going to go eat pizza.’ And she put a pencil in my hand, and she said, ‘Write down every client that you can think of that likes a– because your a– is getting bigger. And I’ll be d—– if my baby starves for these b—— in this business.
Then, her mother encouraged her to write down the names of the brands, Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side, the model was asked to write down the names of the models who were not skinny. Then, her mother told her to follow the careers of these models and make history.
Thankfully, instead of skipping meals as she planned to, Banks decided to do what her mother had told her to do. In the end, it all worked out in her favor and she became one of the highest-paid models by the early 2000s.
