Tyra Banks Defends Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS Ad After Fans Claimed Her Body Was Photoshopped

Tyra Banks began her modeling career at the age of 15 and was the first African-American woman to appear on the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Tyra Banks was recently cast as one of the best supermodels in Kim’s iconic SKIMS advertisement. Later, Kim’s fans chastised her for photoshopping Tyra’s body in the SKIMS ad. Tyra has now stepped forward to defend Kim.

Tyra Banks has spoken out about her experience working with Kim Kardashian on her Skims shapewear line, amid allegations that the campaign’s photos were heavily Photoshopped. Kim announced earlier this week on her Instagram page that she had collaborated with a slew of supermodels, including Heidi Klum, Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio, and former America’s Next Top Model contestant, for an “iconic” Skims swimwear photoshoot.

Fans were disappointed after unedited photos from the campaign shoot surfaced online, which contrasted sharply with the retouched photos that Kim promoted to her millions of social media followers. The 48-year-old Dancing With the Stars host joined Kim on TODAY on Friday for a joint interview.

Tyra revealed why she didn’t hesitate to accept the offer, saying she was glad to finally get to represent curvier women, with Hoda and Jenna to discuss everything concerning their recent partnership. “This is something I’ve been talking about for decades,” she shared. “So, me curvier, me damn near almost 50 years old in this campaign — I think it is pretty empowering.”

Kim, according to Tyra, personally requested that the former Victoria’s Secret Angel front her Skims line after the two had a lengthy conversation about uplifting women of all sizes. Tyra also recalled a conversation with Kim about her famous 1997 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which the latter said gave her confidence as a teen to embrace her larger breasts at a time when models with a fuller chest were uncommon to see on magazine covers.

The Inglewood native, who rose to become one of the world’s highest-paid models by the early 2000s, believed that discussing Skims with Kim helped her “step into my own, I guess, power and influence as an icon in the modeling world” in order to help redefine body standards in today’s society.

Despite their positive comments about one another in the interview, neither Tyra nor Kim addressed criticism from fans who felt that the final shots used to promote the swimwear collection were overly edited especially when compared to the shots that hadn’t been altered. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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