Tyra Banks Height, Age, Boyfriend, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Tyra Banks

• Tyra Banks is an American fashion model and television personality, who is best known as a face of the cosmetics company CoverGirl and the American lingerie, clothing, and cosmetics retailer Victoria’s Secret.

• When she was 6 years old, her parents divorced.

• In an interview, Banks revealed that when she was a young child, she was teased for her appearance and considered an ugly duckling.

• Tyra started modeling at the age of 15 while studying at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.
  

  Tyra Banks in her early days of modeling

• Initially, she was rejected by many modeling agencies before signed by L A Models, Los Angeles.

• After graduating from high school in 1991, Banks enrolled in Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, but her plans changed when a French modeling scout, Elite Model Management, Paris, offered her the opportunity to model high-fashion collections on the runways of Paris. She moved to Paris for that opportunity.

• During her debut runway season, she walked in 25 shows at the 1991 Paris Fashion Week. Additionally, she was featured in several prestigious magazines, including American, Italian, French, and Spanish Vogue; American, French, German, and Spanish Elle; American, German, and Malaysian Harper’s Bazaar; as well as V, W, and Vanity Fair.

• Since the start of her modeling career, her mother has worked as her manager. She also considers her as her best friend.
  

  Tyra Banks with her mother

• In the early 1990s, Banks was featured in several pop music videos, including Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” (1991), Tina Turner’s “Love Thing” (1992), and George Michael’s “Too Funky” (1992).

• In 1992, she moved back to the USA to do commercial modelling.

• Tyra Banks made her acting debut with the TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1995).

• In 1993, Banks signed a contract with CoverGirl cosmetics. She was one of only a few Black models to achieve supermodel status.

• Banks was the first Black woman on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the first African-American woman on the cover of GQ.

• In 1994, she started the Tyra Banks Scholarship for African-American girls who wanted to study at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.

• She was named as one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1994 and in 1996.

• In the mid-1990s, as her figure became more curvaceous, Banks began losing runway assignments. Rather than losing weight, she chose to focus on modeling lingerie and swimwear, which generally favors models with more shapely physiques.

• In 1995, she made her film debut with the film Higher Learning.

• In 1996, Tyra Banks was named for the second time as one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People.

• In 1997, Banks received the VH1 award for “Supermodel of the Year”. In the same year, she was the first African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria’s Secret catalog and became a Victoria’s Secret Angel.

• In 1998, Tyra Banks co-authored a book titled Tyra’s Beauty: Inside and Out.

• In the late 1990s, she began a production company, Ty Ty Baby Production, and soon changed its name to Bankable Productions, which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America’s Next Top Model, and the film The Clique (2008).

• In the early 200s, Tyra was one of the top earning model.

• In 2003, Tyra Banks became the host and executive producer of America’s Next Top Model a weekly reality show that trained aspiring models competing for a chance to succeed in the fashion industry. The show quickly became one of the highest-rated programs on the United Paramount Network (UPN).

• After UPN merged with The WB, the show aired on The CW. Over time, the show became very popular and influenced pop culture, with many of Banks’s made-up words becoming widely used. Although the show was canceled in 2015, it returned in 2016 on VH1. Banks again hosted the show during 2017 and 2018.

• In 2005, she hosted another show, The Tyra Banks Show, a daytime talk show aimed at younger women, which premiered on 12 September 2005 and ran until 28 May 2010.

• In 2007, Banks was honored by FTC Publications’ Class-Elite Magazine (USA) as “The Role Model for Models.” She was one of only two individuals to receive the editor’s copy of the FTC Publications International Model’s Guide, the other being Naomi Campbell.

• In 2008, she was one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly been ranked among the world’s most influential people by Time magazine.

• She is also one of only seventeen models to be ranked as a Legendary Supermodel by MODELS.com.

• In March 2011, Banks started a fashion and beauty website called typeF.com, which she created with Demand Media.

• In September 2011, she published a novel, titled Modeland, based on her own modeling experiences. The novel reached the top of The New York Times Best Seller list in October 2011.

• In 2012, she was one of only seventeen models to be ranked as a Legendary Supermodel by MODELS.com

• In 2014, she launched her own cosmetics brand called Tyra Beauty. To prepare for this business, she completed a non-degree certificate program at Harvard Business School.

• In 2015, she launched another website, tyra.com, which was an interactive online store for her cosmetics products.

• In 2018, Banks collaborated with her mother, Carolyn London, to co-author a book entitled Perfect is Boring.

• Tyra met and started dating her partner, Louis Belanger-Martin, in late 2019. The couple, along with Tyra’s son, York Asal, moved to Sydney, Australia.

• In 2020, she founded an ice cream boutique, Smize & Dream (SMiZe Cream), inspired by her childhood memories of having ice cream with her mother, Carolyn, on Friday nights. It has one permanent location in Sydney.
  

  Tyra Banks, at her ice cream boutique

• In 2025, Banks’ home in Los Angeles was destroyed in the Palisades Fire. She was in Australia with her family at that time.

• In 2026, a documentary titled “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” was released on Netflix, covering Tyra Banks’ show “America’s Next Top Model,” its history, and controversies. Tyra appeared as a guest on the show.

• Along with modeling and business, Tyra Banks is also actively involved in philanthropy. In 2000, she established a weeklong paid camp, the TZONE program, for girls aged 13 to 15 who were seeking body image and personal empowerment.

• In 2005, she converted TZONE camp to TZONE Foundation, which provides leadership and life skills development for young women.

• Tyra Banks does not smoke or drink alcohol. In an interview, she revealed that as a model, she had some restriction including no frontal nudity, no birds, no cats, no fish, no cigratte and no alcohol.

• She is allergic to dogs.