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You told Tyra Banks that you hated it when she leftAmericas Next Top Model,and she heard you.
After a one-season hiatus, Banks is back asAmericas Next Top Modelshost, boss, and glamorous main mama.
She also has a few other things on her plate.
And thats just the short-term.
Weve had so many seasons ofAmericas Next Top Model, one of the longest-running competition shows in history.
And so, as a businesswoman, Im like,Okay, let me keep this going.
But even from the announcement, it wasnt received as well as I would have liked it to be.
I knew that would happen.
But then it turned kind of to that love-hate.
His name is Rohit Deshpande.
One of the things I learned from him was, Your brand is not what you say it is.
Its what they say it is.
Meaning your customer, your viewer, your audience.
Whatever your service or product youre selling or sharing.
And so I said,Wow.
And I realized I stepped away from this legacy that Im trying to create too soon.
So his voice rang in my head.Its what they say it is.
Theyre saying that I need to be there.So, I came back.
So, let me stick with this brand a little bit longer.
When you watched the Rita Ora season, was there a part of you that agreed with the audience?
You guys handle this decision.
It wasnt that smooth in the beginning.
But that finale they were flowing, almost as if it was edited already by an editor.
It was punchy; it was quick; it was snappy, sharp.
Even just seeing that, I was very proud of what they had done.
Its crazy that the audience had a different opinion, I guess.
And we would have very spirited phone conversations.
Were like family pretty much, so were yelling at each other over the phone.
Hes like, Youve got to come back to this damn thing that you created.
And Im like, Leave me alone!
But finally, I said, Yes, I will come back.
When did you get the idea to abandon the age limit?
And Ken was very excited when I brought it up with him.
Season one ofAmericas Next Top Model, I had what we called at the time a plus-size girl.
Now theyre calling them curvy girls.
Ive had transgender girls.
All these things that werent necessarily cool or in the mainstream when we did it.
So, I told him, Ken, think about the age thing.
Like, thats crazy.
So, there are two problems there.
One is, modeling shouldnt be about the number on your birth certificate.
It should be about your look.
Some man gets some salty sideburns, salt-and-pepper sideburns, and crows feet, andOoh, hes hot.
When a woman gets that, its considered that shes reached an expiration date.
She says, Youre way better-looking than you were when you were a supermodel, Tyra.
WithAmericas Next Top Model, I set that age limit with my team back in the day.
It was 18 because we need you to be legal to live in a house.
But we capped it at 27.
Now, Im like, whats next?
I dont know what it is, but Ill figure it out.
Im lucky that I genetically do look a lot younger than my number.
I look in the mirror and I see that.
And I think Im very lucky to have a mother who embraces age.
So I didnt have a mom saying that getting older was bad or her gray hair is bad.
My mom has gray hair, and she rocks it and shes proud of it.
And I have that.
But, like, no.
And I so look forward to that.
I love social media, but its tiring.
Are you saying that you actually hold back now?Oh my god!
Can you believe it?
Im crazy, right?
And I say so much.
Like, my publicist is like, youre so quotable.
Im like,I know cuz Im crazy.
But yeah, I totally hold back, still.
Theres so much more.
And its not like a celebrity tell-all jot down of thing.
Its just saying whatever the hell comes in my head.
And thats gonna happen at 60 years old.
Unfortunately, its all about somebody saying,Yes, Im going to give you that opportunity.
So, yes, I do feel like I have the opportunity to be a boss.
However, I feel like the level of true bossdom is not having to ask someone to say yes.
And that is the next phase of my personal career and brand.
Still, it does feel really good and Im so happy Im seeing women like Ava DuVernay.
Shes a force to be reckoned with.
The list goes on and on.
I want it all to be normal and boring.
And the same thing goes for women in Hollywood with power.
We just want the idea of them being female and being bosses to be boring and normal.
I believe it was a woman who said yes to you forTop Model?
Dawn Ostroff, right?Youre good, girl!
Yeah, it was a woman that said yes to me!
And she damn near said it almost in the room.
I got in a car after pitching and got a phone call where she had said yes.
I dont know if you readEllen Pompeos interviewinThe Hollywood Reporter.I did read it, yes!
That was so boss.
I was like, so that was B-A-W-S-E. She was a BAWSE!
I was so proud of her.
It also made me really mad to hear everything shes gone through to get there.
Shes the star of that show!Shes the star of that show.
But a lot of time with gain, theres the pain, you know?
And I love that she just didnt say, Oh, this is what Im making.
But she told that story so people understand the path and how to replicate that.
How have you been feeling as all of this has evolved?
It can be empowering, but also deeply disappointing.I mean, probably both of those.
You know, hearing these stories of women suffering in silence makes me sad.
But hearing them being heard and believed and seeing such change happen so fast makes me rejoice inside.
Yeah, because youre already hearing some of the backlash.
Are we going too far?
Because that can happen.
And theres a danger of that happening.
Why arent we hearing about sexual harassment or abuse in the fashion industry?Oh, there are stories.
Its just not as much as Hollywood.
But theyre definitely out there.
They make ten times as much as a male model on a set that day.
So its one of the rare businesses where women outearn men.
But in terms of harassment, those stories are coming out.
I do not know why, and I really do not understand why I did not experience that.
Because I would go on a go-see, what we call an audition, and it would be fine.
So, sometimes its just luck that happens.
But I was aware of certain stories that models said, most definitely.
You would pass along the story.
It just was an occupational hazard.
But it was still just part of your occupation.
So, that is weird, I guess, the six degrees of separation bang out of thing.
I mean, its less than six.
And so that is a bit frightening for me.
Admiring someone is a whole different thing from knowing someone.
Thats the part where like,whoa,that takes it even deeper.
How do you reconcile those things?
In the Hollywood world, Im kind of in my little bubble.
I admire a big majority of people in the fashion industry for being so politically inclusive.
Its just that when it comes to the hiring of models, it gets a little weird.
So, I dont really know what that excuse is, of why the liberal leanings stop there.
I honestly dont know.
But my primary intention forTop Modelwas to affect people and hope that the fashion industry followed suit.
But I do think some of that has happened.
Its a good thing youre back then.I hope so!
I really wanted to bring the heart back toTop Model.
I wanted to bring back that early heart and love its still tough love.
But at the same time, theres a big-sister or motherly love that I brought back.
How did you like working in that environment?Everybody was like, Oh my god, live TV.
How are you going to handle it?
That is so easy to me.
I can do it with my eyes closed.
And I have no problem.
Hosting and being a ringleader of a TV show or something live just comes very natural to me.
Now, acting and memorizing lines is not my nature.
But it will be a holiday-2018 movie,Life-Size.
Are you writing another book?Yeah, Im writing another book.
Its a little secret, but Im writing.
Maybe well hit you up.
I think youre going to really like it.
Can you tell me what punch in of book it is?Nothing, nothing.
We havent talked about motherhood yet, which is one of the biggest parts of your life right now.
He can count to 20 in English.
He can count to ten in Spanish.
His physicality is how I looked when I was his age.
When Im on TV, he says, Mommy!
And then he goes, No, turn it off, Mommy.
I dont want to see you on TV.
I dont wanna see it.
Its just too much for him or something.
Mommy,Bubble Guppies,Bubble Guppies.
Mommy, Baby Signing Time,Terrific TrucksandTayo.
You know, its so funny.
But its a painful schedule.
Im going to give a shot to figure that out.
You do so much already on social media.Yeah, but social is just likeduh, duh, duh.
I just want to be that beacon for them again.
So, Im working on that.
Hopefully, in 2019.
Youre also teaching branding at Stanford.
I cannot wait.
I love my students and love teaching that class.
The students have to give you feedback.
I know I want to do a lot more teaching as the years go by.
Right now, my course is a two-week course.
Now, lets expand it to two months.
Okay, maybe now its a whole semester.
Is that your future?
Is that what you dream about?Yeah!
I love teaching, andTop Modelis teaching in a way.
Entertaining teaching, but its like edutainment.
It gives me a lot of pleasure.A lot.
Before we finish, I wanted to ask about your experience of 2017.
A lot of people felt like it was a brutal year.
There were so many different things that my career was focused on, and with a lot of success.
People are so hungry for it.
This is what we need.
We need to feel uplifted.
We need to feel hope when so many people feel hopeless and theres so much hate.
