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Tyra Banks Shares Early Struggles Of Her Career

Tyra Banks is one of the most famous supermodels in the world, largely thanks to "America's Next Top Model" and her legacy as the first black Victoria's Secret Angel. But Banks is the first person to admit that her road to success in the fashion industry was bumpy and demanding. The "Perfect Is Boring" author recently opened up to Business Insider about the difficulties she has faced with body image and unrealistic weight expectations. When Banks was a "very young model" and at the height of her high-fashion career, walking runway shows for designers like Dior and Armani, she was called "too big" by designers during Milan Fashion Week. "Her butt is getting too big and you need to go tell her to lose some weight," they told her mother Carolyn London, according to Banks. "I started crying and I was like, 'Mom, OK, what do I do. Should I diet? Should I work out twice a day? Should I just have salads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?'" she told Business Insider. Instead, London told Banks that they would come up with a plan — and took her to a pizza parlor. "She put a pen in my hand and she said, 'You write down every client that likes ass. Your ass. Because it's growing and there's nothing wrong with that, and I'd be damned if my baby starves for this industry,'" Banks said. "Goodbye high fashion, hello 'girl next door.'" Banks went on to become the first black woman on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition (and landing that cover twice, back-to-back); one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels; the first black woman on the cover of the Victoria's Secret Catalogue; and the first black woman to wear the famous Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra (which she also did twice).