Tyra Banks Says She Was ‘Not In The Clique’ Of Famous ’90s Models

Tyra Banks may be a legendary supermodel, but at the height of her runway days, she didn’t feel like she was part of the in-group of ‘90s top models.

“I never was! No, I was, like, looking at them, like, ‘Oh my gosh, Linda Evangelista, oh my gosh, Christy Turlington,’” Banks said as she guest co-hosted TODAY with Jenna & Friends on Wednesday.

“I was a little bit younger. So, I used to look up to them, like, ‘Whoa,’” she continued.

Banks, 51, said that even as recently as last year, she fangirled over one of her peers, Kate Moss, when they ran into each other backstage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. 

“She looks at me, and she’s like, ‘Tyra!’ and it was the biggest smile that she gave me across the room,” Banks recalled. “And my little unpopular-girl-in-the-cafeteria self was like, ‘Kate Moss is saying hi to me!’”  

“It was a weird thing because she was cool back then, and I wasn’t,” she added. “I was a supermodel, but not in the clique.”

Jenna asked if Banks was “bummed” about not feeling like part of the group, but Banks said it just wasn’t her personality to be in the mix at all times.

“I’m not very social, so I would go to work, and I would go home,” she said.

Banks also revealed that at times, she felt “miserable” and overwhelmed as she juggled multiple projects in her career, including hosting and executive producing “America’s Next Top Model” and “The Tyra Banks Show” in the early 2000s.

“I felt like when I was walking to my talk show set, that I had a meat hook in my back, and it was saying, ‘Just stop, stop,’ and I was pulling against it,” she said. “Because it was just too much.”

These days, Banks says she has discovered more balance and finds joy in parenting her 9-year-old son, York.

Banks and ex-partner Erik Asla welcomed York in 2016 via a surrogate.

The supermodel and entrepreneur opened up on TODAY with Jenna & Friends earlier this week about her IVF journey. 

She shared one “crazy” memory from her egg retrieval, recalling a time she was admitted to a shared room.

“So the doctor would say to me, ‘You got six eggs,’ and then he would go to the next curtain: ‘You got 35 eggs,’” Banks said. “I’m like, ‘Really, can you just whisper this or write it on a sheet of paper?’ Because here I am, feeling so inadequate.”

She also opened up about her decision to have a child.

“I remember being 24 years old, and I was saying, ‘In three years, I’m going to have a child … and I kept putting my career first …. and then, it was almost too late,” she said.

“IVF saved me and it was the last of my eggs … and so, I just made it and it is the most amazing thing,” she added.