The last episode of her TV show is essentially a clip show of Banks’ favorite moments from the five years of episodes. Among the clips are Tyra pretending to be a homeless person, a senior citizen, and in a fat suit. Interview highlights include those with Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barak Obama. Of the latter, she told People, “I was so nervous, sick to my stomach and my hands were shaking… I asked him to look into the crystal ball and said, ‘What do you see in your future, Senator?’ And without hesitation he replied, ‘The White House.’ That clip ran on CNN and every national morning show. I’ll never forget being a part of political history.”
Saying goodbye was a tearful experience for Banks. In the final moments of The Tyra Banks Show, she thanked her staff, guests, and audience. She also took time to promote her many upcoming projects, including movie production and writing a series of fiction books about life in Modeland.
Sitting next to her two Emmy awards, Banks told her audience, “So this is it, the very final moments of the final Tyra Banks Show. I want to thank my crew and the staff here at the Tyra show. I have had some of the most amazing crew. We were talking the other day about how we’re a family here. Like five years is longer than high school. You know high school is four years. We’ve been here five years. And we were together another year before we even aired. So we’ve been together six years and I want to thank you guys so much. You guys kick ass. You rock. You have dedicated your life to this show. A lot of you guys picked up your lives and moved to New York City for this show. Thank you. I thank you so much. And we are going to party hard tonight. Y’all gonna get drunk, I know. Just don’t drive. We’re gonna have fun.”
“Also, I want to thank the guests because, when people come on talk shows, don’t you ever wonder ‘Why the hell are they saying this? Why are they sharing their most inner-most thoughts?’ But, their willingness to share allows others to heal because it makes us not feel alone. Like ‘Oh my God, they have that problem? Thank God, I know I’m not alone, I’m not the only one.’ I thank them for sitting on this couch with me, thousands of guests, and sharing their stories.”
Banks continued, “I also want to thank the viewers, I mean, we would not be the number one talk show with women 18-34 if not for you guys. You know, I want to thank you so much. And you know what I really want to thank you for? (starting to cry) I started this talk show as a model and people told me, ‘You know, you walk down the runway for a living. You’ve taken pictures for a living and yeah, you created that little model show but that’s what you do. People aren’t going to take you seriously.’ (crying) And I had journalists tell me that this show would be cancelled in two weeks. And, it’s five years and it’s two Emmys. And we are still super-strong and still consistently number one with women 18-34. And I want to thank you for that. You gave me a chance.”
“Lots of people ask me ‘Tyra, what projects are you the most proud of?’ And I can’t really say that there’s any one project because what I’m the most proud of, personally, selfishly, is to be able to transition from being just this model to what you guys have allowed me to be. Thank you and I am humble because you’ve allowed me to live my dream.”
“It’s really important for me that people understand that this is not the end. This is the beginning. I left modeling years ago and I was at the top of my career and the company that I left, they wanted me to stay. My ass was bigger than anybody else’s ass. You know, there were certain journalists who said, ‘Your ass is too big’ but they still wanted me to stay but I wanted to leave because I wanted to leave on top. Like an athlete who leaves on top after a championship, that’s what I did with modeling. It’s the same with the Tyra show. It’s been five amazing years with two Emmys, with the best talk show and a bunch of Emmys that we don’t really even talk about — best make-up, best lights, best this, that. We have so much amazing success but sometimes you gotta leave when you’re on top.”
Wrapping things up, Banks said, “And I hope, what the future holds, for me and my company, and plan to share with you guys. I pray and hope and I ask that you follow me on this journey because the Tyra show has been such a beautiful platform and it has allowed me to come to you, and speak to you and share my journey as well as so many other people’s journey. I just really want you to know that this is just the beginning and not the end. And I want to tell you that I love you so much. So, so much.”
“Many, many years ago, I retired from the runway. But, I have my Tyra show runway that I walk out on every single day. And so, with you, I’m sharing my final runway walk on the Tyra show runway.”
Banks blows kisses to the audience as they cheer, and walks to her runway. Banks kneels down and then goes even further down, into a push-up, so she can kiss the floor in her short dress. The host gets up, waves goodbye and walks out the studio doors for the last time.
What do you think? Are you sorry to see Banks leave daytime? Will you follow her new projects?
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