Back in the 90’s, Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell were on top of the fashion world. What outsiders didn’t know at the time is that the supermodels were feuding. In 2005, Tyra Banks had Naomi on her talk show, where the two talked passed their differences. Tyra reminded Naomi about a few issues they’d had in the past, and even recalled a time Naomi told her that she would NEVER be her. The two eventually hashed everything out and went on about their business — or so we thought.
Banks, now 42, says she’s still very much afraid of her former nemesis. In an interview with the Norwegian-Swedish series “Skavlan” on Friday, she recalls what led to their decades old feud.
“I got to Paris and it was very difficult I did very well, very fast,” Banks explained. “But then the industry was saying, ‘Look out Naomi Campbell, here comes Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell sit your butt down, this younger one is coming to take your place.”
“It wasn’t fair to Naomi, but her response was … to this day I’m very scared of her,” she continued. “I don’t want to go too deep into the past, but it was very difficult, like some of the lowest times of my life dealing with that.”
Tyra tells Skavlan that though she doesn’t condone Naomi’s behavior at the time, she gets it.
“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.’”
Tyra says her breaking point is when Naomi finally apologized on her show in 2005.
“She kept saying it never happened and then there was a commercial break and then she came back and said, you know, ‘I’m sorry,’” Banks revealed. “And, oh my God, I just cried like a baby. To hear that after so many years of pain and dealing with it publicly … me having to leave agencies because of her … to hear that apology meant the world to me. She has no idea what that did for me.”
Watch the video of Tyra’s interview below.
