Tyra Banks recently said that the years she hosted her daytime television talk show were some of the worst times of her life.
The Model Land CEO had previously hosted The Tyra Banks Show from 2005 to 2010. The show almost instantly found success, and Banks was dubbed the Oprah Winfrey for a younger generation. Although the program was successful and could’ve lasted more than five seasons, Banks shared with Hollywood Life during a Nine West event that it was a difficult period for her back then. She considers it to this day to be “the hardest thing in the world” to her. She also said although hosting brought her massive accolades, she couldn’t bring herself to enjoy what her job had to offer.
“I was not happy…I was the most successful in my entire life. Made the most money I ever had in my entire life and sometimes didn’t want to get out of bed,” Banks admitted.
Banks credits her time at Harvard Business School for helping her realize how unhappy she was with her chosen career as a talk show host. She said her leadership professor had his students recall a time they were successful and to write it down to share. Banks said after hearing everyone’s success stories, she noticed there was a sadness attached to each story. She said her professor then advised the class how important it is to find “balance” in their work. That was what helped her realize that balance was what was missing when she was working on her talk show.
“It’s not about excellence. It’s about good enough,” Banks admitted. “You got to keep going….I think [ The Tyra Banks Show ] was also hard because I was producing, too, and doing two America’s Next Top Model ‘s a year. I was sleepy.”
Today, the Sports Illustrated cover girl is learning how to better find balance in her life for the sake of her son , York, 4. She shared that while she has a lot on her plate — including Model Land and working on Life-Size 3 — she makes sure her baby boy has her full attention when they spend time together. She said that her son reacts to her better once he sees his mom isn’t on her phone as much. Banks shares custody of York with her ex-boyfriend, Erik Asla.
“When I’m with [York] I need to put my phone away,” she said. “There’s plenty of time to deal with an email and a text from work and stuff when he’s asleep and he deserves my undivided attention.”