America’s Next Top Model coach Miss J Alexander returned to the red carpet for the first time since his debilitating stroke.
The iconic runway coach, 67, stepped out at the opening night at Titanique on Broadway in New York City on Sunday, April 12, after revealing he suffered a stroke back in 2022.
For the event, the reality TV star played it cool in a teal jacket adorned with constellations and floral details. Miss J complemented his look with a plaid scarf, brown circular sunglasses and a black cap. The TV personality used a wheelchair during the event.
Miss J first revealed his health issue during Netflix’s Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model docuseries in February. “Everything changed. On December 27th of 2022, I had a stroke,” he shared. “I didn’t know where I was other than in the hospital. I spent five weeks in a coma and I couldn’t walk [or] talk. And I thought to myself, what was I going to do?”
He then shared footage of himself in his hospital room, where he said he lived for at least “one year and five months” because he “couldn’t walk and couldn’t speak.”
“It was emotional. I cried,” he added. “I am not ashamed to say that I cried. Then once I was in the hospital, Jay [Manuel] and Niguel [Barker] came to visit,” he recalled of his America’s Next Top Model costars. “I thought back to how we used to do shows together. I cry because I just miss them so much.”
Miss J — known for teaching some of the most iconic fashion models how to walk a runway — said that he can no longer walk, though he is determined to eventually no longer need the assistance of a wheelchair.
“I can’t walk. Not yet. Not yet. I’m determined to walk. I’m sure you’re gonna see me again, I’m sure. It’s not over for me yet,” he said.
Elsewhere in the docuseries, Nigel, 53, opened up about visiting Miss J in the hospital. “I don’t know whether he even wanted me to see him that way,” he said. “That was just such a terrible shock and really upsetting and horrifying and scary.”
Nigel continued, “When he saw me, he was happy to see me and the two of us cried together and I held him.”
Jay also got candid about seeing Miss J, sharing that he was “upset.”
“I can only imagine where he was in his mind,” he added.
Miss J was also asked whether Tyra Banks, who famously hosted the controversial show, visited him in the hospital.
“No, not yet,” Miss J revealed. “She just sent me a text that she wants to come and visit me. But no … not yet.”
Following the docuseries, Miss J’s friends organized a GoFundMe on his behalf, sharing that after he spent a year and a half in a rehabilitation center, he had “additional mini-strokes, seizures, and four additional hospitalizations.”
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