Celebs Who Can't Stand Tyra Banks
There's no pleasing everybody, no matter how "flawsome" you are. Just ask Tyra Banks. By most standards, her career has been a roaring success. After all, she has successfully managed to parlay a lucrative modeling portfolio into a glamorous media empire. But plenty of celebs simply don't like the America's Next Top Model mastermind — and they definitely can't stand all her "smizing," "tooching," and "booching."
From the leggy legions of ANTM hopefuls (who found their dreams smashed under Banks' tyrannical fist) to a haughty hodgepodge of cast-aside collaborators and business partners, there's no shortage of entertainers who have a bone to pick with Banks. Let's take inventory of her many fashionable foes, as there are plenty of people, who've taken an anti-Tyra stance.
But first, we have to ask: How much time do you have? Because this could take a while.
Angelea Preston didn't like Tyra Banks' business model
Remember Angelea Preston? In 2011, she experienced a flicker of fame by winning the All-Stars season of America's Next Top Model ... only to have that cycle 17 victory snatched away after Tyra and Co. discovered she'd formerly worked as an escort. Preston's winning episode never made it air, but she clawed her way back into the spotlight by filing a $3 million lawsuit against ANTM producers in 2014 (via TMZ).
In 2015, she told the Daily Mail that Banks treated her contestants like well-coiffed cattle. "Sometimes we would work 20 hours straight of filming. We couldn't talk unless the cameras were on. We had to be put on a thing called 'ice' [meaning no eating, drinking, or talking]."
She fumed, "It's like top model prison."
Preston also claimed that, while much of Preston's previous cycle 14 air-time had to do with the passing of her newborn daughter, Banks' empathy turned off with the cameras. "When I came on the show Tyra's trying to act so concerned," she recalled. "But by cycle 17 she completely forgot I had a daughter. It was all about exploitation."
It took a decade for Paulina Porizkova to warm up to Trya Banks
"Let's not go there." That's what the frantic, disembodied voice of Tyra Banks' publicist intoned when Dateline's Cynthia McFadden asked Banks to comment on the departure of judge Paulina Porizkova from America's Next Top Model in 2009.
"Why do you think [she left]?" Banks asked, ineffectually trying to turn the tables on the interviewer.
Fortunately for us, Porizkova was far less cryptic when asked what happened behind the scenes during an appearance on The Late Late Show. She told host Craig Ferguson that she was fired over the phone (on her birthday!) for having a "gigantic, huge ego" (via The Cut). Around the same time, Access Hollywood asked if Banks may have been jealous of her. "I don't think that in Tyra's universe that's even a consideration. I don't think she cares," Porizkova responded. "... I wouldn't know [the kind of person Tyra is] because all I know of her is literally when we are on set talking to each other in front of the cameras," adding, "That is the only time she would speak to me."
Though Porizkova's issues with the ANTM judge were long-standing, it seems like they finally patched things up in 2019. In an Instagram post, Porizkova admitted that she wasn't the easiest to work with. But although she and Banks "didn't always see eye to eye ... [Banks] didn't stoop to [her] level." She ended the post congratulating her former foe for making her return to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Comedian Ryan Singer had a whole bit about Trya Banks
When The Tyra Banks Show was still on the air, the program consistently featured comedians like Jessimae Peluso, Bobby Johnson, and Kendra Cunningham. But one funnyman who was decidedly not invited? Stand-up comic Ryan Singer. And that was probably for the best, seeing as one of his most popular bits is a long-winded monologue dissecting why he can't stand his "nemesis of all time, Tyra Banks."
He apparently just couldn't tolerate Banks' penchant for putting on fat suits and getting filmed "to raise awareness of how difficult it is to be overweight in America today." In his manic stream-of-consciousness monologue, Singer emphasizes the hypocrisy in Banks' actions.
"On the surface, sounds like a noble thing to be doing, right?" he said, before pointing out that she's "part of the f***ing problem." Noting that she's "a supermodel with a show that creates other supermodels," he then went on to compare those very special episodes to "a hunter putting on a deer suit trying to raise awareness for how difficult it is to be a deer nowadays."
Tyra Banks was a constant punchline for Joel McHale
Here's another comedian with a big Banks problem. In 2008, Stereogum noted that former The Soup host Joel McHale would often insult Tyra Banks in interviews, and that has largely remained true over the years. In 2017, McHale claimed Banks tried to stop a The Soup segment that painted the former talk show host in an unflattering light. She allegedly even threatened legal action (via the Chicago Tribune). That same year, McHale admitted to Radio New Zealand, "Tyra Banks hated our guts."
Regardless, McHale continued roasting Banks on The Soup whenever the opportunity presented itself — which seemed to be on every episode. And when The Tyra Banks Show ended in 2010 after 810 episodes, McHale spliced together an exhaustive two-minute mashup of the show's most bananas moments.
McHale has also occasionally performed a stand-up comedy routine in which he skewered Banks' well-documented dolphin phobia. "It's like being afraid of glacier!" he joked, adding, "They're so easy to avoid!"
Was Tyra Banks v. Chrissy Teigen all just rumors?
By the time their doomed series FABLife premiered, co-creators Tyra Banks and Chrissy Teigen had been plagued by rumors that a feud was brewing. In 2015, Page Six reported the two were "barely speaking" to one another. A source told the publication, "You never put two supermodels on the same show together." The insider further claimed that alleged tensions were sparked by their ten-year age difference.
Then in 2016, Radar Online reported that Teigen had banned Tyra Banks from attending her baby shower. "All the rumors of behind-the-scenes drama are true," a source told the tab at the time, months after Banks announced the "very difficult decision" to bail from the show. "Those two absolutely hate each other!"
Apparently, eye contact had become a formidable challenge, too. "Tyra never even looked at Chrissy when they weren't filming," the insider noted, adding, "It was tense."
However, Teigen appeared exasperated by the suggestion there could be animosity with Banks, taking to Twitter to say, "I dunno if you guys know how bosses work, but if Tyra and I were fighting as hard as you're saying, I would be the one off the show."
A compelling enough argument, certainly ... except that soon after she made the comment, everybody was off the show, as FABLife was canceled in 2016 after just one season.
Tyra Banks is a hot topic for Wendy Williams
When Tyra Banks reopened the Naomi Campbell can of worms, many people praised her courage, but talk show host Wendy Williams was not one of them. Her main point of contention: Banks demonstrated a profound unwillingness to let bygones be bygones. "We all know people we will never like again in life," sniped Williams (via the Mirror). "After you've grown up, you learn to let things go."
Taking aim at Banks, Williams explained that "it's not such a good look" for the model to be dishing about Campbell all these years later — even if Banks still happens to "hate her guts."
But that wasn't the only time Williams criticized Banks. She later judged her for joining America's Got Talent after Nick Cannon's exit from the show. "Tyra is not the move for America's Got Talent," Williams said, calling Banks, "an acquaintance to the show." She argued that Banks was simply too "polished" to be a good host. She explained, "Nick Cannon is funny without having to have someone write him a joke or make him a script."
At the end of the segment, she asked the audience to "clap if you think Tyra is the right person to host America's Got Talent." A deathly silence followed, prompting Williams to say, "That's a sign of the times, Simon Cowell."
Geez, is that really any way to treat "an acquaintance to the show"?
Tiffany Richardson finally buried the hatched with Trya Banks
It's the meltdown that inspired a million memes. The moment it aired, Tyra's tirade toward cycle 4 contestant Tiffany Richardson became an instant trash-culture treasure. You probably know the speech by heart: "Tiffany, I'm extremely disappointed in you! This is a joke to you!" The histrionics then crescendo with the already-legendary line, "I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!"
According to Richardson, the actual blow-out was "1,000 times worse" than the bit that aired on TV. In a 2017 interview with BuzzFeed News, she claimed that — in front of the whole cast and crew — Banks screamed at her, "You can go back to your house and sleep on your mattress on the floor with your baby!" The former contestant told BuzzFeed that the comment has "stayed in the back of [her] mind" every day since. Ultimately, she believed Banks' breakdown had to do with the bottom line. She claimed the supermodel "needed them ratings to go up or something" and didn't give "a f— about none of us, except for the ones who made it big."
In 2019, Richardson had completely changed her tune. She told Live About that she understands the supermodel was only speaking from a place of deep care. "We've talked since," she admitted. "Tyra yelled at me because she loved some Tiffany. ... She felt like I was giving up that week. And it hurt her ... She felt like she was helpless."
Janice Dickinson and Tyra Banks were 'never girlfriends'
It's a story with all the elements: backlash, backtracking, and back fat. Former ANTM judge Janice Dickinson has bad-mouthed Tyra Banks on countless occasions after she parted ways with the show. During a March 2007 appearance on the Today show, she commented on Banks' weight, calling her fat (via the Huffington Post). Then in 2012, she called Banks "soulless," "heartless," and "cold" in FOX411's Pop Tarts column (via Fox News). Asked if she'd ever bury the hatchet with — not in — Banks, she replied, "Not for all the tea in China." Oh boy.
Though she expressed regret at one point — she told Oprah that she "was very hurt" after being sacked from ANTM (via People) — Dickinson later reignited their apparent feud. In March 2017, she told The Domenick Nati Show that she and Tyra were "never girlfriends." Taking a swing at Banks' gig on America's Got Talent, Dickinson remarked, "I give it a few weeks."
Winnie Harlow refuses to thank Tyra Banks for her career
Winnie Harlow might be a top model now, but the former America's Next Top Model contestant doesn't believe her time on the reality show got her there, and she didn't hesitate throwing some major shade Banks' way (which she later claimed was not shade, according to her reply to an Instagram commenter (via People), as most shade-throwing celebs eventually do).
It all started during a 2018 Watch What Happens Live! appearance when Harlow claimed a photographer named Nick Knight was the reason she skyrocketed to success — not ANTM's mother-goddess Tyra Banks. "[My success] started after the show, 'cause that really didn't do anything for my career. Which, it doesn't do anything for any model's career, realistically," she told host Andy Cohen. Harlow claimed that she finally started booking campaigns after her shoot with the London photographer went viral.
Banks ended up visiting Watch What Happens Live! herself and had quite a bit to say about the former Cycle 21 contestant. "I discovered her on Instagram and she [was] on this show, so what do you think that means?" she told Cohen, adding, "I have nothing but love for my girls ... They're all my babies. Even the ones that act out are still my babies."
Acting out, eh? After Banks' appearance, Harlow stuck by her comments. According to the aforementioned Instagram reply, she claimed there was a lot of "reality TV stigma" and no agency would touch her.