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Tyra Banks Says She Had 'Stress Alopecia,' Reads Roald Dahl Books

Tyra Banks Says She Had 'Stress Alopecia,' Reads Roald Dahl Books
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Senior Style Editor for The Huffington Post

Believe it or not, Tyra Banks recently became a member of the New York Times bestsellers list with her debut young adult novel Modelland, which cracked the children's chapter books list at number two.

Banks, whose post-modeling career has included a talk show, 17 seasons of her reality show America's Next Top Model, and a stint studying at Harvard Business School -- she'll graduate in early 2012 -- told the Wall Street Journal in an interview today that the book, a fantasy novel that follows the twisted adventures of modeling student Tookie de La Creme, took her five years to write. She made some juicier comments, too; here's just a smattering of Tyra's very Tyra-esque soundbites:

  • "I got a little alopecia from the stress [of writing the book]."

  • "At the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, a 13-year-old girl was talking about how big her forehead is. I told her she had a big forehead like me, but I love it and it's beautiful. I said, 'Yeah you're insecure about it, but there's something about it that you're wearing with pride because your hair is slicked back in a bun.' And she cried in my arms."

  • "That's what my finance guy at my company said: 'You're teen Tony Robbins.' He just said that!"

  • "Do you know I did not know it was dystopian? I think of dystopian as 'Mad Max,' as 'Book of Eli,' as the world is ending."

  • "I love Roald Dahl. On my nightstand right now is James and the Giant Peach, which I'm reading for the second time. I just finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I read three Twilights."

  • "Yes. I wrote the book, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you it was me in a room. My editor would polish, my head of media would look at a chapter."

    • Banks says she also plans to turn Modelland into a movie.

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