LOS ANGELES – Tyra Banks marks a modeling milestone next week, and is donning a decade-old bikini to celebrate the special anniversary.
Ten years ago, Banks became the first black supermodel to appear alone on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. The 2007 edition, which has a music theme, features 25-year-old singer and “Dreamgirls” actress Beyonce on the cover wearing a yellow-and-pink bikini.
Sports Illustrated said Beyonce is the first nonmodel/nonathlete to appear as the main subject on the cover of the swimsuit issue.
The inside of the magazine features scantily clad models posing with Kanye West, Aerosmith, Kenny Chesney, Gnarls Barkley and Panic! At the Disco. A five-page spread featuring model Anne Vyalitsyna was shot at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.
Banks, 33, recently returned to the Bahamas to recreate the shoot that landed her on the coveted Sports Illustrated cover, even wearing the same red polka dot bikini – with a few adjustments.
“I was about 140 pounds on that cover … and I’m 161 now,” the 5-foot-10 TV host told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I’d say I looked like a stripper when I put it on.”
Banks, who retired from modeling in 2005, said some extra fabric was added to make the bikini a little less itsy-bitsy.
“They covered the sides of my chest so that it wasn’t so much hangin’ out. And they put some extenders on the sides of the bikini bottom so it fit,” she said.
Last month, Banks, who hosts the syndicated “The Tyra Banks Show” and the CW network’s “America’s Next Top Model,” was mocked on the Internet for unflattering photos showing her in a one-piece bathing suit.
In the AP Radio interview, Banks said she considered going on a crash diet before the Bahamas shoot to look the same as she did 10 years ago, but then thought better of it.
