What to Know
Now that Netflix’s documentary about the behind-the-scenes drama of America’s Next Top Model is streaming, one contestant who was prominently featured in Reality Check is really laying into Tyra Banks for how she treated her on the show. After being a part of one of the most viral scenes of the series’ history, Tiffany Richardson is not holding back, telling the story of what really happened that day in a post on Instagram.
The scene that showed Tyra yelling at Tiffany was a big part of the documentary.
Even if you haven’t seen the show, if you have spent any time on the internet since Tiffany’s season aired in 2005, there’s a very good chance you’ve seen a clip (or a meme) of this scene, which included Tyra absolutely going off on the contestant after she was eliminated from the show.
“I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this. When my mother yells like this it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you! How dare you!” Tyra screamed at Tiffany on the show.
Considering the impact of the moment, it was addressed in Reality Check. Tyra claimed that she got so heated because she’d been doing all she could to help Tiffany succeed.
“I went too far. I lost it,” she admitted. “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 of that was in that moment.”
Tiffany took to Instagram to call Tyra out.
In a since-deleted post on Instagram, Tiffany did not mince words when she called Tyra a “lying a– tied a– b—-.”
“You know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera, YOU WAS A BULLY!!!” she wrote in the post, via Buzzfeed. “You treated me like s— and said the nastiest things about me and my son. That is not how the argument went but YALL EDITED TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU CARED.”
She added, “F— YOU @tyrabanks. I BET YOU WONT SIT DOWN WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!!”
This isn’t the first time Tiffany has spoken publicly about the moment.
For a long time, it’s been insinuated that Tyra’s rant included digs at Tiffany that didn’t make the final cut of the episode — something she confirmed in an interview with Buzzfeed in 2017, when she claimed that what actually happened was “1,000 times worse” than what viewers witnessed at home.
Tiffany said that one of the most biting comments Tyra yelled at her, “You can go back to your house and sleep on your mattress on the floor with your baby.”
The good news? Tiffany seems to be doing a lot better these days, despite that moment — but there’s no doubt that it was an incredibly difficult one for her to overcome.
