Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks: don’t call me disgusting just because I’m heavier now

Tyra Banks has confirmed that, as you may expect, she’s hurt by tabloid reports criticising her weight. Model turned chat show presenter Tyra has gained 30lbs (just over 2 stone) since her modelling days but doesn’t think she should be criticised as much as she is. She told People magazine recently: “I get so much mail from young girls who say, ‘I look up to you, you’re not as skinny as everyone else’.” “So when [magazines] say that my body is ugly and disgusting, what does that make those girls feel like?” But that’s not to say she’s completely comfortable with her filled-out form: “I still feel hot, but every day is different. It’s when I put on the jeans that used to fit a year ago and don’t fit now and give me the muffin top, that’s when I say, ‘damn!’” “I feel more comfortable when I’m lighter - I sleep better, I snore less, I have more endurance when I work out, my arms look better.” “[But] 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 things.” She added that her fuller figure might be detested by the tabloids but the producers of her show think she’s better bigger: “they think it’s better when I’m at 155 pounds - at 145, they feel I’m not as relatable.”

Tyra Banks Mortified By Mean-Spirited 'Fat' Tabloid Reports

Supermodel Tyra Banks was stunned when she read the mean-spirited coverage regarding her recent weight gain in the tabloid media. The 33-year-old was enjoying a recent holiday in Australia when she was photographed in a bathing suit on the beach with a fuller frame. She tells American publication People, "It was such a strange meanness and rejoicing that people had." Banks insists the photos were taken from an unflattering angle and that the catty coverage might harm her fans. She explains, "I get so much mail from young girls who say, 'I look up to you... I think you're beautiful.' So when they say my body is 'ugly' and 'disgusting', what does that make those girls feel like?" Banks has put on 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) since her modeling career began and now weighs a healthy 161 pounds (73 kilograms).

Twins on 'Tyra Banks Show'

Supermodel Tyra Banks tackles plenty of important issues on her popular talk show, ranging from eating disorders to relationships and family dynamics. She also focuses on outstanding individuals who have overcome adversity, and many of these people appear on the daytime program to inspire others. Also known for her role on "America's Top Model," Ms. Banks uses her own experience as a model in the competitive fashion world to help other young women build self esteem and achieve their goals.

Now, Ms. Banks will focus her attention on two local individuals on an upcoming-Guadalupe "Lupita" and Carmen Andrade, the conjoined twins who have lived in New Milford for the last several years with their parents, Norma and Victor. The children are dicephalous twins, meaning that they are joined at the chest wall. Early on, doctors determined that they cannot be separated. The children came to the United States from Mexico and have been helped by Healing the Children Northeast, a New Milford-based international charitable organization that provides medical care and other forms of assistance to families and children from around the world-often children with medical issues that cannot be handled properly in their own countries. In December, a producer from the Tyra Banks Show contacted Healing the Children Northeast's executive director, Dana Buffin, and asked if the Andrade family would be willing to participate in a program about the girls, who are now in first grade and attend Northville Elementary School, one of New Milford's three primary schools. "The producer called in December and said they had heard about the twins and wanted to do a story about their life on the show," Ms. Buffin said during a telephone interview from an airport in Philadelphia, where she was waiting for a connecting flight to Los Angeles with the Andrade family. "They said they knew about the twins and the fact that they were getting assistance from Healing the Children so they contacted us first." The girls' appearance on the Tyra Banks Show was to be taped yesterday (Thursday), but Ms. Buffin wasn't sure when the actual airing would be. Meanwhile, the experience with the Tyra Banks Show staff and producers had been wonderful, she said. "The kids are so funny-they said they were nervous about meeting [Ms. Banks]," Ms. Buffin said. "They know who she is. Everyone's been so nice, and so helpful. It's all been really, really nice." A film crew for the show visited the children before they left for Los Angeles, filming them in their classroom at the Northville school. That took place Tuesday. "I got a call from the producers of the show in L.A., saying that they would like to come out and film the girls [at school]," said Northville's principal Tom Atticks. "They had been discussing them through [their mother] Norma and Healing the Children in New Milford, so I contacted Norma and had a conversation with her first. She was all for it, so we made arrangements to accommodate them, and we got releases for all the children in the classroom." Lupinta and Carmen are in teacher Patty Guastello's class. "It was exciting-the film crew was here for about two hours," Mr. Atticks said. "They sat in the classroom, got pictures of the kids in the classroom. It was a typical day in the life of Carmen and

Lupita." At the airport Wednesday, Ms. Buffin said the girls were refreshed from a nap on the airplane. "They're tooling around the airport right now," she said. "They slept on the plane and now they're up and they're just all over the place. "They're so sweet," she added. "And they're so kind. If they're nibbling on some crackers they always ask you if you want some first. They're just sweet little girls."

Tyra Banks | Tyra Banks 1 | Tyra Banks 3 | Tyra Banks 4 | Tyra Banks 5

Celebrity News Archive