Getty Tyra Banks.
Tyra Banks is considering a return to the career that made her famous.
In a May 2024 interview, the former “Dancing with the Stars” host revealed her recent cover shoot for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s 60th-anniversary issue sparked an interest in returning to modeling.
“[Lately,] I don’t feel like I’m modeling, but people keep telling me that I should do it again, so I’m thinking about maybe doing it, like, runway and stuff,” Banks told Extra in an interview. “We’ll see … I’m thinking about really, really modeling, for real for real. Like, fashion shows and … covers of magazines that are not Sports Illustrated.”
Tyra Banks Called Herself the ‘Oprah of Modeling’
Banks turned 50 years old in December 2023, 30 years after first gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition. In an interview with People magazine, she admitted that her life at 50 is “totally different” than what she thought it would be. “I’m a momma and an entrepreneur,” the Smize & Dream ice cream founder shared. “I do Zoom meetings with no makeup and throw my wig on. . . . 50 feels good.”
After being approached to pose for SI Swuimsuit’s 60th-anniversary cover, Banks told Extra it felt “good” to be back to her former career. “I love being … somewhat like the older model on set,” she told the outlet. “I don’t know why I do, but I feel like a sage, I feel like the Oprah of modeling, you know what I mean?”
She added, “I feel like I’ve been here, I can teach you guys things. So it feels, it feels really good.”
The modeling legend joked that she hoped her hips could handle long days on the runway and she asked for “the right lighting” during any potential future photoshoots.
Banks was just 32 when she walked in a Victoria’s Secret show that she said was her final catwalk. At the time, the “America’s Next Top Model” host told the Associated Press (per Today.com) that she was done with modeling for good.
“I’m not just retiring from the runway, I’m retiring from all modeling,” she said in 2005. “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.”
Tyra Banks Made History With ‘Sports Illustrated’
In 1993, Banks made history as the first Black model on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, she shared in an Instagram post.
In an interview with the Associated Press, she explained, “I shared [the cover] with a woman named Valeria Mazza. And then a year later I was the first Black woman on the cover solo.”
Banks also marked another “first” with the iconic magazine. “I was also the oldest model ever on the cover until Maye Musk came and knocked me off of that throne,” she said.
Banks admitted it was nice to have those “inroads” in the industry. But she added, “Breaking down barriers is not necessarily about yourself.”
“Sure, my career catapulted,” she said of her SI berakthroughs. “But what does that mean man for Black woman and celebration of beauty, particularly in America where weren’t heralded as such? I knew that being on that cover meant a lot more than a bigger modeling career.”
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