Tyra Banks Bailed On Retirement To Reshoot Iconic ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover

Just in case we all thought that Tyra Banks couldn’t 100% destroy a cover shoot, the 45-year-old powerhouse stepped back into the game from retirement to model for the latest Sports Illustrated Swim cover.

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After being the first black woman to grace the cover of the magazine back in 1996 as a duo with Valeria Mazza and then solo in ’97, Banks stepped back onto the sand to feature on the cover for a third time, looking as phenomenal as ever.

The Top Model judge/queen took the return to the cover of the swimsuit edition to prove her ethos that modelling has no age, and tweeted that she wanted others to take her return from retirement as proof that people can be fierce and fabulous at any age, shape and size.

https://twitter.com/tyrabanks/status/1126136231706939394?s=20

I mean if I can look half as good as that at 45 I will be very happy.

Speaking with Sports Illustrated about her decision to come back to the same beach in the Bahamas where she shot the ’97 cover, donning a string bikini that’s a very close match to the one she wore back then, Tyra Banks said that she attempted to diet before the shoot but it didn’t quite go as planned.

After chatting to her nutritionist, she began a strict no-carb diet and began drinking two litres of water a day – that is, until she visited her mum with her three-year-old and they had a full-blown ice cream party.

I just didn’t care.

But, I know the tricks. Like, the thicker you are, the smaller the swimsuit should be. It makes your curves look more luscious than stuffing yourself into giant underwear-type bottoms. So, I needed a suit that was like dental floss.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxM6OifBOdJ/

There is this stereotype that only a 20-year-old woman in a bikini is hot,” says Banks to SI. “Like once we reach a certain age, we are no longer desirable. But I want to show that modelling has no age. I’m coming out of retirement to practice what I preach.

Let us all have the confidence and self-love of Tyra Banks literally coming back to modelling to show everyone how it’s done.

Even now as Australia heads into winter and the only shoestring anything we’re thinking about is how many shoestring fries we can shove into our mouths.

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