Born
December 4, 1973, Tyra Banks has gone from ugly
duckling as a child to a supermodel on top of the
world today. The Los Angeles born nymph has been
a breakthru model for the African American community.
Tyra was the first black female to appear solo on
the cover of Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit
issue. Tyra hadn't always had dreams of becoming
a supermodel, as a child Tyra was made fun of by
her schoolmates and as she says in a recent interview
"They knew I was sensitive and they'd tease
me all the time. I'd go home crying to my mom. But
I got the last laugh. Now I say, 'Is that really
me?' " The issue of being 'really me' also
is being brought into question with Tyra. Several
have said Banks has had a nose job and breast implants,
and if true one could hardly argue with the results.
Tyra recently discussed her childhood trauma's and
current beauty problems in her book Tyra's Beauty
Inside & Out, where she talks about her stretch
marks, cellulite, mustache, and warts (errr... hardly
a book we'd be interested in buying given the sounds
of it!). Whatever the case, those flaws must not
have been very noticeable when Elite modeling agency
spotted the beautiful woman in Paris just after
she had graduated. They signed her up, preventing
her intended college plans at Loyola Marymount.
She had become only the third African American woman
to sign an exclusive contract with a cosmetics company.
Then her curvy figure was featured prominently in
several Victoria's Secret ads and magazines (to
which they still are to this day).