SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE
SIGN IN SEARCH MENU
SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE


TheTVObserver: Ms.Tyra Banks

Written by TheObserver from the blog TheTVObserver on 02 Jul 2009
Favourite this post



TheTVObserver presents Tyra Banks. Despite how much people have to say about this former model turned tv-producer and talk-show host. Ms Tyra, affectionately known by her fans, has evolved into a power-house TV star. Hate her or love her, Tyra has created mainstream prime-time modeling content through America's Next Top Model which is now in its 12th season with 150 episodes in the volt.

By all standards Tyra Banks' Top Model show is a MEGA-HIT. Can any one scream “Bloody Rich Ms. Tyra” Hello!. Yes, sometimes she could be a lot to take on, but do YOU have a show which has been on-air for over 12seasons with franchises in over 40 countries around the world?, AND......do you also have your own talk-show, boring as it maybe, on national tv? She is annoying but she is BANKING money in the process. Holla! Holla Holla! Her creation America;s Next Top Model, is successful show because its her life. Hence every teenager worldwide wants to the Next Top Model.

TheTVObserver's StarSpread presents Ms Tyra Banks. At 11, a growth spurt turns Banks into "this tall beanpole freak all the girls would laugh at." She tells PEOPLE, "I wasn't just skinny and tall; I was sick looking. If anybody called me skinny, I would just smile, then run into my room and burst out crying. It was a really unhappy time."


A 17-year-old Banks begins making the model agency rounds while at L.A.'s Immaculate Heart High School. ''The market for black models was not very good,'' Banks' mom Carolyn, who shot her daughter's portfolio, tells PEOPLE. Banks is told her look is "too ethnic." After graduation, she plans to enroll at L.A.'s Loyola Marymount University, but weeks before the start of her freshman year, things turn around. A French modeling scout spots Banks and offers her a chance to model in the Paris couture shows.

''My ankles would shake, and I would bend my knees and stick my lips out,'' Banks tells PEOPLE of her first model walks. But within a week, she accumulates 25 bookings. Model Niki Taylor says, ''She can work a runway like you would not believe.'' Designer Todd Oldman adds, ''She reminds me of an antelope. She was just born with grace.''

Black supermodel Naomi Campbell takes notice of rising 19-year-old star Banks and reportedly persuades Karl Lagerfeld to ban the so-called new Naomi Campbell from Chanel's catwalk. "Why do I have to knock Naomi out to be successful?" Banks asks PEOPLE. "With white models, they don't do that."


In the spring of 1993, Banks meets Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton, 25, through mutual friends, and they start dating. ''Tyra brings out the silly side in me, which no one else is allowed to see,'' Singleton tells PEOPLE. Banks counters, "I like that he's very intelligent but not nerdy."

In the fall of 1993, In her first recurring television role, Banks plays Will Smith's sassy girlfriend Jackie on NBC's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. ''When people know me as a model, they back off," she tells PEOPLE. "They have trouble relating to the image they see in the magazines. But when they recognize me from television, they relate to me as this chill-out girl." Banks also makes guest appearances on television shows Soul Food, Felicity and American Dreams.
ADVERTISEMENT
January 11th 1995 - Banks lands the part of track runner Deja opposite Omar Epps in Higher Learning. "Tyra is good,'' says the film's director and her boyfriend John Singleton, who calms her worries of favoritism by assuring her she wouldn't have the part if she wasn't right. ''She adds a lot of flavor to what could have been a throwaway role.'' She follows up with films Love & Basketball and Coyote Ugly.

In 1996, After splitting up with Singleton in spring, Banks, 22, shows up with pop singer Seal, 33, at the Essence Awards. Their low-key romance ends in October.


February 21st, 1997 She has a Cover Girl makeup contract and is a regular in magazines and on runways, but the 23-year-old Banks makes history with a triple achievement in 1996. She is the first African-American woman to pose on the covers of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (with model Valeria Mazza), GQ (February 1996) and the Victoria's Secret catalogue (1996). On Feb. 21, 1997, she'll grace the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second year in a row – this time, by herself.

In 1998 The model releases her first book, Tyra's Beauty Inside & Out, with her thoughts on self-esteem and step-by-step makeup advice. "It's not the cosmetics, not the swimsuits, not the magazine covers," makeup artist Sam Fine tells PEOPLE. "The beauty of Tyra is her natural side, the child in her." Banks is also upfront about her looks: "I'm not ugly, but my beauty is a total creation."
ADVERTISEMENT
In the summer of 2001, Banks establishes Tzone, a Southern California camp aimed at building self-esteem in teenage girls. "I'm just 'BBQ' [her camp nickname], a girl like them," Banks tells PEOPLE. "It's important for me to let young girls know how much of it is smoke and mirrors. I still go to work and see people, my peers that make me feel insecure. I talk about that. I shed tears about that. It breaks down barriers."

November 13th of the same year the confident catwalker appears in the first-ever broadcast of the Victoria's Secret show, which makes waves as the lingerie-clad models incite indecency complaints to the FCC. Four years later, Banks will announce her retirement from modeling and make the glitzy event her last runway show.


In 2003 her success continues with the launch of her girls-go-high-fashion reality show, America's Next Top Model, on which women vie for a modeling contract. With the show still going strong for more than 11 seasons, Banks tells PEOPLE, "It makes me really proud that there can be a healthy model out there to show you don't have to resort to crazy means to get the type of figure you desire."

In May of 2004, Banks releases a hip-hop-flavored music video, "Shake Your Body," which features dancing by contestants from the second season of Top Model. She pays the $30,000 production costs herself, hoping the video leads to a record deal. It gets some airplay on MTV2, but the single never makes it to radio. "That was a dream," she tells Forbes in 2006. "I sounded decent, but you shouldn't ever do something just because you're only decent at it."

In Sepetember of 2005 six years after being a youth correspondent on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Banks, 31, pulls double-duty as host and executive producer of her own talk show. It is on The Tyra Banks Show that she faces rival supermodel Naomi Campbell. "One of the reasons I wanted to do this show is because sisterhood is so important to me," she says during their discussion.


In May of 2006 Time names Banks one of the Most Influential People in the World, where Heidi Klum calls her a "whip-smart business mogul." She makes the list again the following year, with famed feminist Naomi Wolf writing, "What I love about Tyra Banks is that she is taking action. She has used her own weight gain…as a teachable moment to confront the culture and speak out to girls and young women about embracing their bodies in all sizes."

After tabloids and blogs run photos mocking Banks for looking heavier, she tells PEOPLE she's happy with her present figure, which is 30 lbs. heavier than her 2005 pre-retirement weight, in January of 2007. Posing on the cover of PEOPLE, an empowered Banks says, "I still feel hot." Weeks later, with tears in her eyes and rage in her voice, Banks tells critics on her talk show, "Kiss my fat a--!" After launching her "So What" campaign that promotes positive body images, Banks is listed as one of PEOPLE's 100 Most Beautiful.

February 2008 After moving her talk show to New York, Banks opens up to Essence about the lonely life she leads at the top. "I'd go to work and women would be crying in my arms on the talk show," she says. "But then I'd go home and put my key in my door and ... nothing: no friends, no husband, no children. I feel so full when I'm at work but so empty when I come home." While Essence reports the buzz that she's involved with investment banker John Utendahl, 50, Banks keeps mum on relationship rumors.

 

In June the 20th of 2008, Banks, 34, wins her first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Informative Talk Show. "I want to thank Oprah Winfrey for her inspiration," Banks says. "She is the queen and will always be the queen." Using her winning moment to silence her detractors, she adds, "When you have a dream, there are going to be many people that tell you that you cannot do it, that you are not good enough. And I want you to tell them to kiss your dimply, flat, juicy, bootylicious, skinny, jiggly, saggy, fat a--!"

By TheTVObserver on TVSA
@ 2009 © TheTVObserver. All Rights Reserved
Pictures used on TheTVObserver graphics and information sourced from third parties are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer
The information provided here is not journalistic but simply observations and the opinions expressed by TheTVObserver and guests, which are strictly their own. TheTVObserver does not claim credit of any kind for any images shown on this blog unless otherwise noted. Usually we try to give credit when and where we can. The rights or copyrights to content, copy and images on TheTVObserver belong to the respective owner(s). If you own rights to an image and do not wish it to appear here, you may contact this blog at mailtheobserver (at) yahoo.com and it will be removed. The TV Observer is not responsible for, and does not have control over, the content of any external Web site links shown on this site. Written text on this site is copyrighted by The TV Observer, except as clearly noted and duly sourced. Information featured on TheTVObserver can contain errors or inaccuracies, although we try all in our power to avoid this. We do however not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the blog’s sourced content. Material copyrighted to TheTVObserver may not be used elsewhere without written permission. TheTVObserver invites your comments, this blog was created to inspire thoughtful dialogue and conversations with one another for shared experiences and insights. While TheTVObserver encourages debate, the comment portion of the blog is not intended as a forum for personal attacks and destructive postings. If that is your intention in commenting, we ask that you go elsewhere.



18 Comments

Mathaz
02 Jul 2009 08:13

I love Tyra and enjoy her show so so much.  She might have gained weight but i like her like that with some meat, she looks good.  When is her show returning on our screens??

"But then I'd go home and put my key in my door and ... nothing: no friends, no husband, no children. I feel so full when I'm at work but so empty when I come home." 

That is the saddest thing ever, to have all the money in the world and still have a void in your life.  Indeed money cannot fully fulfil one.

Ms. Jay
02 Jul 2009 08:45

nice TO, what had happened to your blog? you went silent for sometime?

its tru Mathaz, money doesn fill the void in your life.....shame....

Sbam
02 Jul 2009 09:06

i also enjoy her show (ANTM), and the fact that she is taking gals from every walks of life.... 
Fat (i need a proper definition of dat)  that women is huuuut

belz
02 Jul 2009 09:26

Weeks later, with tears in her eyes and rage in her voice, Banks tells critics on her talk show, "Kiss my fat a--!" After launching her "So What" campaign that promotes positive body images,>>>>>>>>hahahahahahahahahhaha, sigh.


But then I'd go home and put my key in my door and ... nothing: no friends, no husband, no children. I feel so full when I'm at work but so empty when I come home>>>> sad indeed, but strange for someone like Tyra, there must be things we dont know.

I dont like Tyra at all, she is too full of herself, i used to not mind her before i started watching ANTM, she wants these girls to worship her, if, like she said above she wants the gals to realise whatever, then they shouldnt be worhiping her, she should jsut go to bed satisfied that she made someone's dream come true.

Molilo
02 Jul 2009 09:28

I love her attitude, she really is doing good. Hope etv will do us a favour and play season 7 & 8 by June 2010. I am addicted to ANTM, unfortunately cant watch her talk show.

Ms. Jay
02 Jul 2009 09:54

LMBAO @ Belz..........

jinxed
02 Jul 2009 10:40

Tyra has done well for herself no doubt but i do not like her much, i feel the same way as Belz does about her.

i have a cousin who looks, acts and talks too much just like Tyra-she is a former beauty queen. i should ask her if she likes Tyra. she even has the huge forehead.


Green.arrow
02 Jul 2009 10:42

....I am love her to bits this lady....
...i dont think she is boring at all.....and i totally applaud her for the Tzone more than anything.

and its sad she is such a sensitive person, coz i think like anti Oprah she may have problems settling down(whatever that means)...

Dr House once aksed  gore how come all the women in history (Joan of Ark, mother Theresa etc ) who dedicated their lives to people....died alone...
The question got me thinking...i got scared for a while...but then i realised that loneliness is relative......
Its sad that she is alone when she is at home...but i trully hope that she will do what she is doing even harder, becuase that fullfills her....and its debateble, but i belive that can take care of the loneliness...

I love her apporach to ANTM...her hearty approach...which is why i think the other franchises will never measure up..
I watched season 1 of canada's next top model..sssoo cold..
Season 2..where Jay Manuel is now the host...he tried to do that heart to heart thing...but it dnt wok,,because he is not Tyra...He doesnt have the vision/passion/burden that God put in Tyra's heart....she is one of the best people to me....

calamity
02 Jul 2009 10:58

belz, so what you are saying is that when Tyra told Jade that she should be humble and accept praise she was basically saying that she should worshop her. I mean seriously. 
I have watched both her TV shows and I don't see the arrogance that some people see. In ANTM she uses her experience as a model to put them through their paces. So what if she refers to her life as a model every day? Who cares, the sista is doing it for herself and there is nothing the haters can do about it.

calamity
02 Jul 2009 11:00

Love your work Green-arrow

JadaPinkett
02 Jul 2009 11:05

I jst love her especially her ANT show it's rock.

JadaPinkett
02 Jul 2009 11:07

Hope etv will do us a favour and play season 7 & 8 by June 2010. I am addicted to ANTM........................I'm with u Molilo

Green.arrow
02 Jul 2009 11:24

I have watched both her TV shows and I don't see the arrogance that some people see......u can say that agan Calamity
I have tried to pin things on her...as we always do people most celebrities....and i cant find anything.......
Peole say she is annoying????...that she is childish????.......i gues everyone has an opinion, but i dont see it that way at all...

I believe that...Juat as meedkness is NOT weakness....Childlikeness is NOT childishness....
It brings me to tears how she can relate to little gals and young wemen...because how else can they believe her if they dont think she understands...she epitomises a lot of staff that i believe in...using her experience to help out etc etc 

She reminds me of one of my fav scriptures (sorry i know this is not home cell)..that says with the same comfort that we have been comforted, we comfort other in the same "troubles" (2 corrinthians 1:4)...
Simply put....most of the times...only someone who ahs been say depressed can successfully reach out to someone else who has been depressed.....because they undersatnd...and they even will be believable...
So I applaud her for what she does...
I really ddnt want to go this far...but i feel so much aboput her, i could write a book....so this actually my favorate most TVO review....yet..

Green.arrow
02 Jul 2009 11:27

..on a lighter note....i actually saw her "Shake Your Body," video with the cycle 2 gals.....and i think its not bad at all......but i think she does top model and the tyra show better....
it really isnt bad..she is an ok singer.......but i think she was alittle too old for that music style (kinda beyonce-ish..)....
But i applaud the woman for trying......because she could...no harm done...atleast she wont spend the rest of her life wondering like i know i will about a lot of staff i failed to do bcos of fear of being judged....ssaadd!

Toxic
03 Jul 2009 10:53

I love Tyra. 1st noticed her on Coyote Ugly. I had gone to see the movie with a boyfriend at the time who developed this sudden crush on Tyra. He wouldn't stop talking about her and oddly, i understood where he was comin from cause she was SEXY and FUN.

Msoe
03 Jul 2009 16:29

I love Tyra too. I dont see any arrogance ngaye and I dont understand why people love to trash her so. Yes she might be lonely but most successful woman are. Also man dont really understand driven woman they always think of them as bossy and obsessive. Look at Oprah, I dont think we'll ever hear that she is married eva. So uTyra akumele azikhathaze kakhulu, these things happen all the time. Maybe she should come to SA, im certain engayithola indoda.

CandyKane
05 Jul 2009 05:59

i LOVE tyra banks!!! ..she's such an inpisration!!
And i agree with everything Green.arrow, Msoe and calamity said!

Sips
06 Jul 2009 12:01

Yes she's done great for herself no dought about that....and yes she might be lonely and all (i can relate to that coz i sometimes feel like that myself - 80% of all successfuk woman or woman who are doing it for themselves are lonely sometimes...it happens) It's good what she's doing to those young girls and woman.....i watch her show and i love it......I never loved her or hate her - she was just a celebrity that i never thought about liking or not liking - i didn't mind her at all but after watching her on the ANTM i must say i don't like her - she's annoying, full of herself, am with u belz & jinxed funny enough though i can watch her show but can't stand her on the ANTM


Only TVSA members can reply to this thread. Click here to login or register.






LATEST ARTICLES

New on TV today: Friday 29 March 2024

There's music and lights in SuperCulture on Channel O and the film Wallflower airs on Fuse TV.


Game of Lies Teasers - April 2024

Series finale! The rescue attempt gets underway before a final reckoning.


Gqeberha: The Empire 2 Teasers - April 2024

The Mxenge Hotel turns into a whodunnit. A gunshot. Murder. In which room and by who?


The Wife 3 Teasers - April 2024

Naledi’s sex tape sees the spotlight again and catches her in the headlights.


Skerpioen Teasers - April 2024

A torched boat, poison in wine and youthful memories die when Ferda tries to kill Ahmet.


Imlie Teasers - April 2024

Imlie takes Ashu to the hospital when he falls ill, but kidnappers attempt to abduct him.


My Desire Teasers - April 2024

Kaashvi clears her name and reports Pradyumna's bribery attempt to the police.


New on TV today: Thursday 28 March 2024

Season 2 of Dam premieres on M-Net and Grey's Anatomy 20 drops on Disney+.


Hlomla Dandala confirmed to debut as Caesar on Smoke & Mirrors Season 2

The past collides with soon in the latest on Hlomla's whereabouts.


Smoke & Mirrors Teasers - April 2024

Season 1 finale and crossover alert! Caesar takes Thandiswa to the House of Zwide for her wedding dress.

LATEST SITE ACTIVITY


More activity at TVSA Central



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS






×
×

You browser doesn't have Flash, Silverlight, Gears, BrowserPlus or HTML5 support.