Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American actress, occasional author, television personality and former model. She first became famous as a model, appearing twice on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and working for Victoria’s Secret as one of their original Angels. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America’s Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and was the host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world’s most influential people by Time magazine.
Tyra Banks was born in California. She is the daughter of Caroline London; now London-Johnson a NASA photographer, and Donald Banks, a computer consultant. She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older. In 1979, when Banks was 6 years old, her parents divorced. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. As a child Tyra Banks suffered from what she calls an “Ugly duckling” period in her life. When Banks was eleven years old she grew three inches and lost thirty pounds in three months.
Banks was romantically linked to musician Seal, film director John Singleton and actor Will Smith in the 1990s. She dated basketball player Chris Webber from 2001 to 2004.
She is known for being outspoken on abusive relationships, having been a victim herself. In 2005, when asked about her relationship history, she stated, ‘I won’t be using a lot of names [on the show], but a specific relationship had not just cheating but emotional abuse. It was really bad, but that made me strong. In 2009, she opened up about her past abusive relationship when she made a guest appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, hosting alongside Oprah Winfrey. The episode was dedicated to dating violence in response to the assault of Rihanna caused by Chris Brown.
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