Actress Yaya DaCosta is breaking her silence after Tyra Banks addressed criticism of her show America’s Next Top Model at a recent awards show.
The former ANTM contestant, 42, shared a lengthy video responding to Bank’s speech at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where the super model admitted that the show didn’t always “get it right” and she may have “said some dumb s—” on it, but that it “opened that door for others to follow.”
Several old clips from the series began surfacing online in 2020, which prompted a wave of negative feedback directed at both Banks and the show’s creative team. One clip showed Banks telling a contestant that she should “fix” a gap in her teeth, while another featured a now-controversial “race swapping” challenge in which some contestants modeled in Blackface.
In her video, DaCosta acknowledged these public criticisms from ANTM, particularly its “manipulative editing and weaponization of girls’ weaknesses” and “catalyzing body dysmorphia to eating disorders,” and admitted that “the most shocking” experiences she had on the show “did not even air.” Though, she also shared on the positive side that she gained “tools” that would later help her in her career, including learning how to “regulate my nervous system.”
The Whitney star revealed that she had attended the awards ceremony, but had been absent when Banks, 51, gave her speech as she had gone to the bathroom. However, she said she ran into the ANTM host at the photo studio — where the pair proceeded to have a moment.
DaCosta noted that if she had run into Banks a few years earlier, “the old me would’ve been feeling heat” or her “heartbeat would have sped up” or she “would’ve tensed,” since “the story that I had been telling for so long is a story of trauma.”
She went on to say that she has since forgiven Banks, and when she saw her for the first time in several years, she “walked over and we had a beautiful conversation.” She said they had “small talk” and even “reminisced” a bit.
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“She told the lady that was with her about the acting challenge on Top Model with Taye Diggs and how they were like, ‘Whoa she can really act like, this is not fair.’ And it was just fun to reminisce, like it was actually fun,” DaCosta recalled.
The actress said that there was no bad blood between the two and that they ended their reunion with a sentimental moment.
“I just took her into an embrace … y’all I held that woman and when it was time for the hug to be over, I held some more. And I took a deep breath because I wanted her to feel what it feels like to be fully forgiven, appreciated and loved,” she shared.
She ended her video noting that she felt that it was an “amazing opportunity for me to finally close that chapter, as I’m beginning a new one” and that she was “finally, legitimately free” from the weight of any negativity.
“I’m like, you know what? I think it’s time for me to let everybody know that we’re good, and I want y’all to be good too,” DaCosta shared in the video. “And if there’s somebody in your life that you need to forgive for something, now is such an amazing time to do it. There is no time like right now to choose freedom, compassion, love and kindness.”
“Forgiveness isn’t for other people, it’s for us,” she added.
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