Tyra Banks Cried the When She Saw Her First SI Swimsuit Cover
Tyra tells the story of the first time she saw her first SI Swimsuit cover. She explains, "to be a black woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Swimsuit Edition. This is Americana. This is not about color. It's just about being a female. And some people might say, 'It's [just] swimsuits', but I think every facet [of] trying to break down barriers,... whether it's race, whether it's color, whether it's, sexual orientation - everything counts."
"So to me, being on the cover meant, 'wow.' Model is model - beauty is beauty - girl is girl'....Girls everywhere [are] going to look at that and go, 'wow, Tyra kind of looks like me, and they put me on that cover. Maybe that means that I'm beautiful. I don't have to look like those other girls that I could never look like.'"