Tyra-Ten Years After

I just started catching the Tyra Banks show and I must say I like her. She's nuts, uninhibited, outspoken and funny. I've only seen it a few times but she approaches the show's topics fearlessly and asks tough questions. Tyra has carved out some spots in Black history for herself.

In 1996 Tyra Banks was the first African American model to land the cover of the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
In 1997 Tyra became the first Black supermodel to appear alone on the cover of S I Swimsuit edition.
Now talk show host, supermodel and producer Tyra Banks marks a modeling milestone, and is diggin out her decade-old bikini to celebrate the special anniversary.

But last month, Banks, who hosts the "The Tyra Banks Show" and "America's Next Top Model," was mocked on the Internet and in tabloids for unflattering photos showing her in a one-piece bathing suit.
Responding, Tyra who is 5'10" admits she’s gained 30 pounds over the past 10 years and now weighs in at 161 pounds, and she likes her new look. "I was about 140 pounds on that cover ... and I'm 161 now,"

Banks stood out from the stick-thin waiflike models who were popular when she first entered the modeling industry, and had to work hard to persuade modeling agencies to take a chance on her more voluptuous physique. To give herself more options, Banks decided to branch out from high fashion into the commercial fashion industry. She later commented: " I told my agency to call Victoria's Secret, and I told them to call Sports Illustrated... I said [that] my body is changing, and seamstresses are calling me 'grosso' in Italian, and I know what the hell that means. And I'm not about to starve." Victoria's Secret and S.I. that worked out rather well.

Now she says, "I've made millions of dollars with the body I have, so where's the pain in that? If I was in pain, I would have dieted. The pain is not there – the pain is someone printing a picture of me and saying those (horrible) things." But Banks admits she considered going on a crash diet before the Bahamas shoot to look the same as she did 10 years ago, but then thought better of it.

On her hit show America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks has always stressed the importance of body confidence – but it still hurt when tabloids ran an unflattering photo of her in a bathing suit under headlines that screamed, "America's Next Top Waddle" and "Tyra Porkchop."

"I get so much mail from young girls who say, 'I look up to you, you're not as skinny as everyone else, I think you're beautiful,' " she says. "So when they say that my body is 'ugly' and 'disgusting,' what does that make those girls feel like?"
"I think there's more power in embracing what I am now and showcasing that," she said.
I think she may have some Dove Real Beauty shoots in her future. I love that campaign.

Tyra, who retired from fashion modeling in 2005, said some extra fabric was added to make the bikini a little less itsy-bitsy. She had no problem on the TV show Extra showing how they extended her bikini.

"They covered the sides of my chest so that it wasn't so much hangin' out. And they put some extenders on the sides of the bikini bottom so it fit," she said."I'm thinking that I should probably do this every 10 years," she continued. "So, in 2017 maybe I'll get in the swimsuit again and I'll have to get them to add a little more fabric."
Well go on girl! She looks great in this years version.

The 2007 edition, which has a music theme, features singer/actress Beyonce on the cover wearing a yellow-and-pink bikini.
Sports Illustrated said Beyonce is the first nonmodel/nonathlete to appear as the main subject on the cover of the swimsuit issue.