Motherhood encouraged Tyra Banks to take on the responsibility of becoming a chef to her son, York Banks Asla. The celebrity mom tells Sports Illustrated that she was concerned about York’s nutrition at home and, thus, decided to do something about it.
“I will admit, there may have been a frozen dinner – once or twice or more than that – however, that all changed when I had my son,” Tyra shares. “My son is three and a half years old, and I didn’t want him growing up and thinking that food was only in fancy restaurants, fast food restaurants, or just an ‘app.’ I wanted to be my son’s chef – and I did something about it.”
So what did Tyra do? “Three years ago, I enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena (California), a serious ‘boot camp’ – and America’s Next Top Model boot camp ain’t got nothing on boot camp at the ‘CIA!'”
Food is more than a source of nutrition for Banks. The celebrity mom tells Sports Illustrated that there was a time when working in the modeling industry inhibited her ability to fully appreciate food.
“I was in this industry and still connected to an industry that taught me not to eat,” Tyra reveals. “I had this experience where my modeling agency told my mother many years ago that I was gaining weight – my butt was getting too big and that I wasn’t going to be able to do these eight fashion shows this year, and next year it’d be 16 fashion shows – the bigger my butt got, the bigger the list would get of people that did not want to hire me.”
Tyra Banks’ mother, Carolyn London, was not willing to let her daughter succumb to the pressure of being unnaturally thin. “My mother said, ‘Do you know what we’re gonna do about that?’ And I was crying in tears, while my mom said, ‘We’re gonna get pizza.’ And over that pizza, we strategized on how to find clients, that would appreciate the ‘a*s’ that was growing – that turned me into a woman.”
Victoria’s Secret accepted all of Tyra Banks. “When I walked down the Victoria’s Secret runway with those heavy wings, I was 25 to 30 pounds heavier than the average model,” the celebrity shares. “Now I’m 50 pounds heavier than they are, and still feel fabulous.”
Stay tuned for more celebrity mom news!
Photo: Sports Illustrated
