Inside ANTM Tyra Banks’ family life with young son we literally never knew about?!
He was born in 2016
Tyra Banks is back in our Netflix queues thanks to Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, a docuseries that’s serving nostalgia, controversy, and a reminder that Tyra’s always been way more than smizing and memes.
But while the show is busy revisiting runway drama, Tyra’s real plot twist has been happening off-camera… a super-private family life she’s kept so under wraps that even longtime ANTM stans might’ve missed key details.
And now, she’s opening up, including the emotional, last-minute journey that finally made her a mum.
Tyra prioritised her career for years
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Tyra recently summed it up in the most relatable way possible. She remembers being 24 and telling herself, “in three years I’m gonna have a child”… and then repeating it over and over while work stayed front and centre.
And honestly, her career was a lot. She wasn’t just the face of ANTM, she created it, executive-produced it, and became the constant presence across its mega-run.
So when she says she kept putting her career first until it was “almost too late,” it hits different.
She told Jenna on She says on Today with Jenna & Friends: “I remember being 24 years old and saying ‘in three years I’m gonna have a child’, ‘in three years, in three years, in three years’ and I kept putting my career first and then it was almost too late.”
She added: “IVF saved me, and it was the last of my eggs… I just made it, and it is just the most amazing thing…”
Tyra also revealed that she had “a kid bedroom” already before her son was born, with a tile that read: “Mommy already loves you…”
She welcomed her son in 2016
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Tyra became a mom in January 2016, welcoming her son York Banks Asla via gestational surrogate.
York’s dad is Norwegian photographer Erik Asla, who Tyra was dating at the time.
Tyra has shared that IVF “saved” her, and that it came down to the last of her eggs, like, truly down-to-the-wire.
She’s also spoken about the emotional sting of the process, including feeling “inadequate” during egg retrieval when she heard other patients getting higher numbers, per PEOPLE.
Tyra and Asla later split in 2017, but they’ve continued co-parenting, reported PEOPLE.
These days, Tyra keeps York mostly out of the spotlight, which is why people feel like they “never knew” about him, even though he’s now a big kid at 9 years old.
She’s also built a support system that feels very real-world. Her mum, Carolyn London, moved in during the pandemic to help. And Tyra has talked about moving to Australia with York and her partner Louis Bélanger-Martin, tied to her ice cream business, SMiZE and Dream.
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