From Toxic Diet Culture to Food Freedom: Tyra Banks' Transformation
For fifteen consecutive years, supermodel Tyra Banks served as the iconic host of America's Next Top Model. While the groundbreaking reality television series publicly championed the expansion of beauty standards and challenged conventional industry norms, it frequently perpetuated damaging diet culture, promoted body shaming, and reinforced unhealthy power dynamics. From controversial racial transformation photoshoots and public weigh-ins to unsafe working conditions and exploitative modeling assignments, Banks has since acknowledged she "knew I went too far" in pursuing dramatic television moments.
Life After the Final Curtain Call
Following the show's conclusion in 2018, Tyra Banks has embarked on numerous new ventures and confronted the program's problematic legacy. Now aged 52, the multifaceted entrepreneur has launched an innovative ice cream brand, authored several books, and directly addressed the series' controversies in the Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model. She has also become increasingly transparent about her evolving relationship with food over recent decades, marking a significant departure from her television persona.
"I used to feel like my body was not mine," Banks confessed to People magazine in 2018. "I've been too thin or too big. And I used to feel like I was betraying people if I lost weight." The former model now explicitly rejects restrictive dieting practices and calorie counting, instead prioritizing how her body feels and functions optimally. "Right now, I am 25 pounds heavier than I was on the cover of a very famous swimsuit magazine that came out last year," she revealed to Harper's BAZAAR in a 2020 video interview.
A Day in Tyra's Dietary Life
Morning Rituals: Tyra typically begins her day with coffee, preferring beans infused with natural vanilla or caramel flavors rather than artificial syrups or powders. She drinks her coffee black, without milk, sugar, or cream. For breakfast, she enjoys matcha tea and often selects a bagel—opting for plain varieties when she has professional engagements and onion bagels during private moments. Her unique preparation method involves removing the middle filling after slicing the bagel in half, creating a hollow shell that she fills generously with cream cheese before microwaving it to achieve a warm, creamy texture.
Midday Solutions: As a busy entrepreneur, supermodel, and television personality, Tyra rarely has time for formal lunch sittings. Her practical solution involves curated snack boxes containing natural licorice, bean chips, corn chips, and cauliflower puffs. She has expressed particular fondness for cashews, describing them as "rich and tasty" in an Instagram post. When opportunities arise, she frequents local diners, which she calls "a girl's best friend," or conducts comparative taste tests of burgers from multiple fast-food establishments.
Evening Indulgences: Dinner represents a special occasion for Tyra, often involving culinary adventures with her son and boyfriend. They systematically order identical dishes from different restaurants, then score each version to determine future preferences. Burgers and Mexican cuisine frequently feature on their tasting lists. When cooking at home, she prepares her signature "sriracha maple bacon jerky candied yum," using cured smoky bacon dipped in a sauce combining imitation maple syrup and sriracha, then baked until caramelized.
Sweet Finale: Unsurprisingly, Tyra frequently enjoys desserts from her own ice cream brand, SMiZE & DREAM, which she launched in 2024 as a sippable "hot" ice cream product. "One of my favourite things in the world is ice cream," she declared on Instagram during the brand's introduction.
Confronting America's Next Top Model's Controversial Legacy
The Netflix documentary has brought renewed attention to numerous problematic aspects of the long-running series:
- Racially Insensitive Photoshoots: Season four featured models "swapping races" through blackface and culturally appropriative costumes, a concept repeated in Season 13. Another controversial shoot required models to pose as homeless individuals alongside actual homeless people.
- Sexual Assault Mishandling: Season two contestant Shandi Sullivan revealed that what was portrayed as consensual infidelity was actually sexual assault while she was blacked out, with production continuing to film rather than intervene.
- Racist Treatment: Season one's Ebony Haith described hairstylists laughing at her hair texture and giving her three bald spots during a makeover, followed by Tyra criticizing her for appearing "ashy."
- Systemic Fat-Shaming: Multiple contestants reported enduring weight-related criticisms, with judges commenting on body parts and assigning plus-size models to unflattering roles like representing elephants or gluttony.
- On-Set Harassment: Season four's Keenyah Hill described being inappropriately touched by a male model during a photoshoot in Africa, with producers failing to provide adequate protection.
- Coerced Cosmetic Procedures: Models were pressured into dental work to close gaps or fix "snaggleteeth," sometimes signing releases without legal consultation and enduring painful, medically unnecessary procedures.
Reflecting on these controversies, Tyra Banks acknowledged the program's excesses while noting the challenging position of balancing television entertainment with ethical considerations. Her current approach to food and body image represents a deliberate departure from the values promoted during her America's Next Top Model tenure, emphasizing personal well-being over restrictive beauty standards.
