EXCLUSIVE: Tyra Banks Talks About Move to TV
Sept. 4, 2009 — -- By day she is host of the Emmy Award-winning "Tyra Banks Show"; by night she hosts "America's Next Top Model."
In the wide-ranging interview, Tyra Banks, the queen of self-esteem and body image, told "Nightline's" Cynthia McFadden that she wishes she were more of a diva, if that means being a strong businesswoman and leader.
"I wish I was harder, I wish I didn't care so much about being the nice girl all the time because a lot of the time people can take kindness for weakness, so I wish I had a little bit more 'oomph' in me," Banks tells McFadden.
Turning her successful modeling career into a television empire, Banks has been famously dubbed "America's Next Top Mogul" by The New York Times. It's a title she doesn't feel she deserves ... yet.
"I think I'm too young to be a mogul. I think I'm too young for that," Banks says. "When I think about moguls, I think like Donald Trump who … owns NYC practically. That's a mogul. I feel like I'm on my way to a lot more, but mogul is a really serious thing. I think it's a word that gets thrown around easily."
Watch Cynthia McFadden's full-length exclusive interview with Tyra Banks on "Nightline" Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 11:35 p.m.
Despite her smashing success, Banks says she doesn't have expensive tastes, preferring to make sound investments in property than buying the latest trendy pocketbook.
"I don't like expensive things. ... I just can't help looking in a magazine for the splurge and the save," she tells ABC News. "I love being able to go to a store, let's say ... a store like Topshop or Zara or maybe even Macy's, depends on what department, and not have to look at the price tag. ... Some person told me I had ... a poor man's syndrome or something."
