ANTM‘s Tiffany Accused ‘Bully’ Tyra of ‘Treating’ Her Like ‘S—t’ After the Host Confessed She Went ‘Too Far’ During Viral Moment
25 years after America’s Next Top Model debuted, Tyra Banks finally opened up about that intense moment involving Tiffany Richardson.
Tyra Banks talked about the infamous confrontation in Netflix’s new documentary Reality Check: America’s Next Top Model. She yelled at the Cycle 4 aspiring model, “We were all rooting for you!”
Banks told Richardson she was “extremely disappointed” in her, adding, “This is a joke to you. You’ve been through anger management. You’ve been through your grandmother getting her lights turned off to buy you a swimsuit for this competition, and you go over there and you joke and you laugh.”
The aspiring model said she was “hurt,” and added, “But I’m sick of crying about something that I cannot change. I’m sick of being disappointed. I’m sick of all of it.”
Fast forward to now, Banks regrets the interaction. “I went too far. You know, I lost it,” the model revealed. “It was probably bigger than her. It was family, friends, society, Black girls, all the challenges that we have. So many people saying that we’re not good enough. I think all that was in that moment.”
“That’s some Black girl stuff that goes real deep inside of me, but I knew I went too far,” Banks added.
Where is Tiffany from America’s Next Top Model now?
Tiffany Richardson has been working at a group home in Miami supporting people with mental disabilities since 2017.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, she responded to Banks’ comments about her on the documentary. She wrote, “Tyra Banks let’s keep it cute.. you are 1 lying ass tied ass b—h.. you know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera, YOU WAS A BULLY!!! You treated me like shit and said the nastiest things about me and my son.”
She also claimed that the moment was “edited” to make it seem like Banks “cared” about her.
“F–K YOU @tyrabanks I BET YOU WONT SIT DOWN WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!!” Richardson continued. She also called out her family for never “defending” her.
While the viral moment has spurred many memes, the moment was very scary for those who were involved. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Richardson recalled that it felt “1,000 times worse” in reality. When cameras weren’t rolling, she was told by Banks, “You can go back to your house and sleep on your mattress on the floor with your baby,” in front of the other judges, contestants, and crew members.
Jay Manuel said in the documentary, “There was a lot more that was really said. And some of the things that were said, were really not well-intentioned. I’ll probably never repeat the lines that were said in that room, that day.”
“All I knew is the next week, we had all the lawyers on set,” J. Alexander said, while Manuel added, “People tried to make it funny, but it really wasn’t.”
