Tyra Banks Explains Why She’s Changing Her Model Name To Banx

Tyra Banks jumped out of retirement when she debuted her gorgeous self on the cover of summer 2019’s Sports Illustrated. The 45-year-old was the first black woman to grace the magazine solo in 1997 and now that she’s back to posing in front of the camera, she’s also announced a new name for her modeling self to go by.

“You know how models have interesting names, different names like Twiggy? She wasn’t born Twiggy. I was born Tyra,” she told ET, explaining how her new name is now “Banx, with an X. B-A-N-X.”

“I want me coming out of retirement to be bigger than me, and for me to represent women to say, enough of this cookie-cutter thing,” she added to the publication. “As much as we’ve progressed with beauty, there’s still a long way to go of opening up the door and redefining what it means, and so that X stands for ‘X what you heard about what beauty means.’ We are making a new rule that so many more people can fit into this beauty box. Let’s bust the box open.”

Banx also detailed that while she’s back to posing, she still has insecurities just like any other human but doesn’t let them stop her from doing what she loves best. “You know, there’s just things that I don’t like but I just don’t dwell there. But I’m also very honest and saying I don’t like it, but it’s not the end of the world,” she said.