Tyra Banks opens up about being rejected as a black model

Supermodel reveals how modelling agencies told that they 'already have a black girl'

Supermodel Tyra Banks says she was rejected by six agencies at the beginning of her modelling career and found it tough because she was told they "already had a black girl".

Asked what doors were locked to her before she found fame, Banks told Glamour magazine, "Oh, so many. There was a door that was locked because I was a young black model and the first six agencies I knocked at said no - I think four of the six said, 'We already have a black girl'."



"And then once I was successful, designers were like, 'You're getting too thick'. When I wanted to be a television producer, I had a lot of people tell me, 'Oh, you're a model, you could never do that. You walk runways in your underwear'."



The 41-year-old decided to go back to university because she wanted to have a self-funded company, reports femalefirst.co.uk.



"I'm obsessed with ownership. I want to have the say, not just a say. So, I needed to have the tools. I want to be a really strong leader," she said