Tyra Banks slayed her runway return at the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, but it felt different than her previous experiences.
“What was different is my boobies were, like, 10 times bigger because I was about 40-50 pounds heavier on this runway than when I retired,” Banks, 50, quipped during the Wednesday, October 16, episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. “So I was like, ‘Don’t fall out, don’t fall out.’”
Banks, formerly a staple at the Victoria’s Secret catwalk beginning in the ’90s, retired from the runway in 2005. She came out of retirement for the Tuesday, October 15, show, where she closed out the presentation.
“When I was walking — and I was talking to my man about it — I would normally walk for myself,” Banks recalled to host Drew Barrymore. “When I was a model I was walking for myself and I retired almost 20 years ago, but when I was walking on the Victoria’s Secret runway this time, I felt like everybody was inside of me.”
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She continued, “Fifty-year-old women, insecure women; I just felt like there was more. I look at the playback and I’m like, ‘Boom, boom, boom.’ I was stomping because I felt like I was a vessel more so than it’s not just all about me. It was different.”
Banks had sashayed down the runway in a black bedazzled bra with a matching corset, leggings and a long cape.
Last month, Banks teased via TikTok that it felt “cray-cray good” to be back walking for the lingerie brand.
“I never thought that I would be back on this runway, to be honest. I remember — what was it, like, 19 years ago — and I was like, ‘This is it,’” the supermodel said in her September social media post. “And I remember all the press, ‘Tyra’s … last … walk.’ It was so over-the-top, and I was like, ‘I’m out.’”
Banks continued at the time, “My last walk was this red outfit and I had these medals all around my waist. I had hair that was super long, crazy long lashes and this scepter that said ‘V’ in my hand, and I got to the end of the runway and I kissed it and then I raised it and I started pumping, pumping, and in my head, I was like, ‘I’m out.’ But you pulled me back in.”
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Banks has also been candid about her weight gain, previously telling Us Weekly how she learned to embrace her body.
“I think a lot of it had to do with my mother [Carolyn London]. You know, me being really, really skinny and awkward at one time and feeling unhappy about that,” Banks exclusively told Us in March 2020. “Her helping me to get through that and saying that my whole worth is not this skinny body and one day it will gain some weight and you know, everything’s gonna be OK.”
She added, “And then me gaining weight and then the fashion industry saying that was too big and her being there and saying, ‘They will not define you. You will not lose weight for these people. Let’s figure out a different clientele. Let’s figure out somebody that can appreciate who you are and who you’re becoming.’”
