Tyra Banks On Rumored Feud W/ Naomi Campbell ‘A Woman I Was Looking Up To Was Doing Everything In Her Power To Make Me Go Away’ [VIDEO]

Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell

Tyra Banks On Rumored Feud W/ Naomi Campbell ‘A Woman I Was Looking Up To Was Doing Everything In Her Power To Make Me Go Away’ [VIDEO]

The rumored feud between supermodels Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks has been going on for quite some time now. And Banks is opening up about it in a new interview.

She recalled how she invited Campbell to her daytime talk show, Tyra, back in the early 2000s to discuss the tension between the two. See the full episode below.

Still, despite their ongoing back-and-forth, she clarified that she never saw Campbell has her rival.

“It wasn’t a rivalry. I’m very sensitive to that word because a rivalry is with two equals to me; whereas one was very dominant. She was a supermodel and I was just some new girl who got on a plane from Paris and was studying fashion and magazines at a fashion library.”

She added that Campbell didn’t necessarily make the beginning of her model career the easiest.

“I had a very painful early days in Paris. As much as I was booking every single fashion show, people didn’t know I was going home at night crying my eyes out, because a woman I was looking up to seemed like she didn’t want me to be there and was doing everything in her power to make me go away.”

Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell

She went on to say that she now gets why Campbell treated her this way. She said unlike her and Campbell’s Caucasian counterparts, she and Campbell were pinned against each other as the Black girls.

“I didn’t understand that as a young girl. Like, why is she doing this? This is so evil. This is so awful. The adult in me understands that she was reacting to an industry that was all about a token. When this one girl Kate Moss came on the scene, they weren’t telling Christy Turlington ‘You better look out. Kate Moss has got some tight cheekboknes like you do Christy. When Shalom Harlow came on the scene, they weren’t [like], Linda Evangelista look out, another brunette is on the loose. But when I came on the scene… ‘Naomi look out there’s a black girl that’s going to take your spot… Only one spot available.”

See her comments at the 11:03 mark.

Despite understanding Campbell’s motives, Banks said in 2016 that she was still “very afraid” of Campbell. 

“I got to Paris, and it was very difficult. I did really well really fast, but then the industry was saying, ‘Oh, look out, Naomi Campbell, here comes Tyra Banks! So Naomi Campbell, sit your butt down. This younger one is coming to take your place.’”

Naomi Campbell

Tyra Banks

“It wasn’t fair to Naomi. … To this day, I’m very scared of her. I don’t want to go too deep into the past, but it was very difficult — like some of the lowest times in my life — dealing with that. I don’t condone her actions and her response, but I understand where it comes from because the world is saying, ‘You’re not going to have your spot. We’re going to take your money, we’re going to take your fame. Go sit down, there’s somebody else.’”

As for their moment on her talk show, Banks added,

“I cried like a baby. I asked her why [she reacted so harshly]. She kept saying it never happened, and then there was a commercial break and she came back and said, ‘You know what, I’m sorry.’ To hear that apology meant the world to me. She has no idea what it did for me. It did a lot. Thank you, Naomi.”

What are your thoughts about Tyra’s remarks about her experience with Naomi? Let us know in the comments.