Tyra Banks: I'm Really Not Confrontational Like My 'Top Model' Persona (VIDEO)

The country knows Tyra Banks as the stern diva castigating wanna-be models into submission on "America's Next Top Model."

But Tyra, the TV host and New York Times bestselling author (really), told Larry King in a rare flash of introspection last night that, you know, her tough-girl shtick? It's all an act.

"When I did my show ["America's Next Top Model"], I also created a persona," Tyra says in the clip from last night's "Dinner With The King," a special segment that also featured the likes of Conan O'Brien, Russell Brand, Shaquille O'Neal and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

"It's a character," Tyra earnestly tells Conan, gesticulating with her pink manicured hands. "Like, in real life, I'm passive-aggressive ... I'm even in coaching to, like, learn how to be confrontational."

"You're very sexy," Larry King interrupts in his baritone growl. "You're a sex symbol."

"I'm not sexy in real life!" Tyra protests, mussing her hair around and mugging for an imaginary camera. "I can turn it on for a picture, but...I'm not sexy right now."

Ah, the power of the "smize."

Watch the clip below:

Comments

[mose joseph workman]

07:44 PM on 12/08/2011

wow. talk about lettin the cat out of the bag. what a shocker. actually, the only thing about ty that ain't fake is them big titties

[webwzrd]

06:33 AM on 12/08/2011

Everything about this spoiled Oprah wannabe is fake.

[eden4barack08]

01:13 PM on 12/07/2011

Who on any TV show just acts as themselves? It's entertainment, they ALL put on a persona.
Even "news" people play a character nowadays, when all they should do is just REPORT the freaking news!
America is about selling "personalities", not REAL people.

[plusszdiva]

11:52 AM on 12/07/2011

Yea she's a character alright......

[ptrgamb]

12:28 AM on 12/07/2011

I am withholding comment at this time.

[nibsca]

11:13 PM on 12/06/2011

I saw her tv show a few times and I think she is a loving, caring, sweet lady. Enjoyed her show a lot.

[S Omoruyi]

11:13 PM on 12/06/2011

i know at one point Tyra was a bit over-exposed

[fatherdjohnson]

10:03 PM on 12/06/2011

I am so relieved that Tyra Banks has what must be the personal integrity and the inner courage to tell us after all these years that her 'reality TV' persona is just....well....fake, and that her real persona is something else. I am glad that she's done this to help us all separate fact from fiction, to distinguish between truth and flim-flamming sensationalism.

That's great because I accept everything I watch on 'reality TV' programs as being the undiluted truth and authentic in every sense of the word (why else would they tell us that it is 'reality TV'?), and to learn that Tyra Banks is NOT the egomaniacal zombie-dictator that she (no doubt constrained by the producers) presents herself as being on 'America's Top Model', that puts me in the position of still not knowing who the real Tyra Banks is--is she the monotone sadist of 'America's Top Model' or is she simply the anything-for-a-buck Hollywood opportunist?

Don't we all want to know who the real Tyra Banks is?

[mallymar26]

09:11 PM on 12/06/2011

Tyra Banks is smart and I respect her more than these other female celebrities that take drugs, party and sleep with various men.

[UKNY]

10:40 AM on 12/07/2011

Your cheque's in the mail.

[greenberetrich]

08:52 PM on 12/06/2011

There sure are a lot of negative people out there. They need to get a life.

[mrmyfld1]

07:55 PM on 12/06/2011

The show is garbage

[tastles2001]

12:05 AM on 12/07/2011

Didn't make the cut did YA!

[Clarabell]

06:33 PM on 12/06/2011

I think she's cute -- only saw her show a few times quite a while back, but I thought she did a good job. Good luck Tyra -- I think you have earned it -- and ignore the ugliness of some of the posts here.

[bgeditor11]

06:31 PM on 12/06/2011

I think it's fair to say that Tyra is not the brightest crayon in the box.

[Charles Wallace]

06:46 PM on 12/06/2011

Just the prettiest one with the best color!

[jumpinjohn011]

10:16 PM on 12/06/2011

Why bring race into the conversation?

[emperance]

11:27 PM on 12/06/2011

No baby ---- THAT WOULD BE NAOMI.

[Hitchslap2]

06:49 PM on 12/06/2011

Tyra is incredibly smart, and obviously gorgeous. I think Clarabell is jealous.

[singlewhite]

06:23 PM on 12/06/2011

really, well um okay, then you need to create a new character because the show is literally unwatchable because you are so fake and annoying, with the ridiculously bad accents and dumb sayings...

[Diibs9]

07:10 PM on 12/06/2011

Apparently it hasn't stopped you

[tastles2001]

12:08 AM on 12/07/2011

singlewhite,YOu sound so bitter hmmm,I wonder why...NOT

[zcapitalism]

06:22 PM on 12/06/2011

She has a tv show?I had no idea.