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IN THE FAT SUIT Goofy antics have helped position the Tyra host as the flaws-and-all friend her fans love
Mike Rozman

After ANTM was established as a hit, Banks went looking for a new challenge — one that would allow her to teach young women more than how to strike a pose. ''That's one of the reasons I was put on this earth,'' says Banks, who founded a now-defunct camp for girls in 2000. (She one day hopes to open facilities similar to Boys & Girls Clubs of America in different U.S. cities.) Premiering in September 2005, The Tyra Banks Show balanced a tone that was both educational and outrageous — as host, Banks has donned a fat suit and had a sonogram on her breasts to prove they're real. ''There's something about Tyra — you just feel comfortable talking to her,'' says Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures, which co-produces Tyra. ''She's self-deprecating. She's vulnerable. And she's not embarrassed to say anything about herself.'' The moment that transformed Banks from the Top Model glamazon to the Tyra girlfriend came during one such personal revelation in February 2007. After unflattering photos of Banks in a bathing suit turned up online alongside snarky headlines like ''America's Next Top Waddle,'' she stood in front of her audience wearing the same swimsuit and tearfully told critics to ''Kiss my fat ass!'' The episode — an instant YouTube classic — helped position Banks as the flaws-and-all friend her fans love. ''Sometimes you feel really helpless with the tabloids because the falseness becomes truth,'' she explains. ''I just wanted my truth to be told.''

These kinds of melodramatic, often goofy antics have also made Tyra an easy target for the blogosphere and shows like E!'s The Soup — take, for example, an infamous November episode that featured a women's-health expert...and her vagina puppet. ''That type of stuff doesn't mean you're not being taken seriously,'' says Banks. ''It just means you're being heard. To me, the vagina puppet — yeah, it gets spoofed, but it also gets women talking about their vaginal health.'' Either way, the right people are taking Banks' show seriously: She recently landed presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Mike Huckabee as guests. ''It was a lot of pressure,'' says Banks, who adds that those interviews are her proudest accomplishment to date. ''It felt like people were going to be watching in a different way. It made me feel like I can't just look like a dumb model. But this is not CNN either, so I still have to be fun and quirky and cute and girly.'' (Case in point: Banks asked Senator Clinton about her favorite topic — cellulite.)

Given her big-name guests, public battle with her weight, and dedication to ''empowering'' women, Banks has been compared to her onetime employer Oprah Winfrey. ''In the beginning, I used to hate it,'' she says. ''I used to cry at night just because of the pressure. And I didn't want her thinking that I was saying it.'' Banks is also quick to shoot down the connection — respectfully, of course. ''It's flattering. [But] if I was white, I don't think they'd be saying it. I think a lot of it has to do with being a black woman.'' (A call to Winfrey's office for comment was not returned.)

NEXT PAGE: ''I'm not afraid of wanting money at all. Money will give me more power to do things that are truer to my spirit than what I'm already doing.''


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