Tyra Banks has been living the Aussie life for the last 18 months, with most fans not knowing she’s been working undercover as a start-up boss Down Under.
The American supermodel, 51, has been jumping between Los Angeles and Sydney for over a year now as she launches her ice cream store chain Smize & Dream.
And on Sunday, the former America’s Next Top Model host revealed just how she’s managed to blend in with the locals, reported The Daily Telegraph.
She told the publication she and her family enjoy spending their days just hanging out at their local shopping centre and partaking in everyday Aussie activities.
‘We’ll get some breakfast in the mall, then we’ll go to a Hoyts cinema,’ she said.
‘We’ll get some ice cream at the cinema, see a movie, then we might get a foot massage. Then we’ll have some lunch… Then we go to Target or Kmart.’
Tyra Banks, 51, (pictured) has been living the Aussie life for the last 18 months, with most fans not knowing she’s been working undercover as a start-up boss Down Under
Tyra, who is set to open her first Smize & Dream store in Darling Harbour by midyear, went on to say she loves the Australian Kmart.
Despite walking the runway for luxury fashion houses like Saint Laurent, Chanel and Dior, the supermodel said she thinks the Kmart Down Under is ‘fancy’.
She added that after a bit of shopping, she and her family will go and do the groceries.
‘We’ll do Coles, Woolies, Harris Farm, whatever, and so that is a whole day at the mall and we don’t do that in America,’ she said.
Tyra explained that the ‘mall’ culture in America is a dying pastime because it’s just about shopping for what you ‘want’ instead of what you ‘need’.
The opening of her new ice cream store comes as critics have been slamming the shocking comments once made to models on America’s Next Top Model.
Bullying, verbal and physical abuse, fat shaming, tears, and tantrums were all fair game on the reality series, which Tyra was the face of.
Several clips have resurfaced in recent years of Tyra and her co-hosts shaming contestants they considered ‘fat’ or otherwise unfit to be a model on the show.
The American supermodel has been jumping between Los Angeles and Sydney for over a year now as prepares to launch her ice cream store chain Smize & Dream and also walked in the Victoria’s Secret 2024 fashion show
After walking the Victoria’s Secret runway as a plus-size model last year, Tyra has received a slew of her own backlash from critics who grew up watching ANTM. Tyra pictured in 1998
Now, after walking the Victoria’s Secret runway as a plus-size model last year, Tyra has received a slew of her own backlash from critics who grew up watching ANTM.
‘Did ya’ll forget ANTM?’ one person wrote under an interview Tyra did for her plus-size runway.
‘It’s crazy for us too and not in a good way!’ another person commented, referencing Tyra saying in her interview that it felt ‘crazy’ to be on the runway at 51-years-old.
A third added: ‘They can never make me like you Tyra.’
The only response Tyra has issued to the backlash was penned on Twitter in 2020: ‘Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices,’ she wrote on Twitter at the time.
‘Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.’
It comes amid backlash Tyra has received over her plus-size modelling gig with Victoria’s Secret following the body shaming comments she once made on America’s Next Top Model
Bullying, verbal and physical abuse, fat shaming, tears, and tantrums were all fair game on the reality series, which Tyra was the face of
Tyra isn’t the only Next Top Model cast member to cop backlash over the problematic scenes which came out of the modelling competition reality show over the years.
Longtime co-host of Australia’s Next Top Model Alex Perry was hit with heated criticism just last month.
Gen Z TikTok users were left shocked by resurfaced footage of the Down Under rendition of the series.
In the first few seconds of the viral video montage, Alex, 61, can be heard asking: ‘What are those feet? Gorilla feet? Transgendered feet?’
He appears throughout the two-minute montage of un-PC clangers, with a measuring tape in hand, and a hard word for the often teenage models about their weight.
‘Just stop chowing down, you guys have got to exercise. Just get on the treadmill,’ he tells one model in the clip.
‘Alex Perry is living his karma,’ one person commented as they referenced the renowned designer’s recent public appearances which show him rocking a more filled out physique while running errands in Sydney’s inner west.
‘Can’t talk if you see him now,’ another user commented.
‘How is Alex Perry not cancelled?’ asked another.
‘I grew up watching this stuff. No wonder our body image is so distorted,’ one TikTok user commented on the video.
Another Gen Z TikToker was so baffled by what they had just witnessed in the video, that the closest thing they could liken the series to was a Chris Lilley skit.
The Next Top Model franchise saw young girls, most still teenagers, aspiring toward a high-fashion modelling career as they compete to avoid elimination each week by a panel of high-profile judges.
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