Fashion icon Naomi Campbell’s past as an industry mean girl is coming back to light. The 53-year-old bombshell is being dragged for a sordid history of belittling peers, which she has deemed a threat amid backlash for allegedly derailing the modeling career of Kenyan influencer Elsa Majimbo.
New footage of Tyra Banks’ confrontation is now circulating on social media. They come from a 2005 appearance on the previous talk show “Tyra.” During the conversation, Banks recalls a time within the Nineties once they did a photograph shoot on a ship, during which she admittedly suffered from seasickness and at one point rested between photo shoots.
“I think you put my head in your lap or put my feet in your lap and thought, ‘Baby, are you okay?’ And I said, “Yes, I’m fine, I’m fine.” And then you said, “I want to ask you something.” “Are they trying to make you look like me?” – Banks recalls.
The Inglewood native said she remembered the exchange because she was “recent and young” in the modeling world. “And I said, ‘Um, I don’t know much now, but in Los Angeles, yes, it really was like that,’” she said, describing how she was forced to wear similar hairstyles to the star on the runway.
Campbell began modeling in the late 1980s, and Banks in 1990. Before her younger counterpart became a hot commodity, the British star was among the industry’s elite. “You told me that, yes, I remember,” Campbell replied with a smile. But her face quickly turned when the host said, “Naomi, you stood up, pushed me away and said, ‘That’s what I believed.’ You turned around” – with a snap of a finger. Campbell seemed stunned and asked, “Yes?”
Basically, it was Tyra inviting Naomi on her show to do exactly what Elsa Majimbo did on her tiktok… sharing what Naomi experienced when she was younger and the way she felt, and in addition showing how powerful Naomi was pic.twitter.com/hmEOoNCBnL
— Mirth O. Molefe (@mirthdot) February 20, 2024
“You went from the sweetest woman who gave me vitamins to someone who terrified me on this trip. On that trip, I was told I was sent home because you didn’t want me there anymore,” said the Harvard Business School graduate. “No, that’s not true. “I don’t have the power of Anna Wintour,” Campbell joked in her defense.
The conversation continues with the “Life Size” actress recalling how she was later treated coldly by her peers, was told “You’ll never be me” and was removed from the show due to Campbell’s disapproval, even though the model denied the claims. The tension almost provoked Banks to abandon her career. After a commercial break, Campbell apologized for the pain the former Victoria’s Secret model experienced.
“No, Naomi Campbell is guilty of everything Elsa accused her of.” commented user X, combining Banks’ experience with Majimbo’s. Another user also saw this exchange as evidence that “Basically, Tyra brought Naomi on her show to do exactly what Elsa Majimbo did on her tiktok… she shared what Naomi experienced when she was younger and how Naomi made her feel, and also showed how powerful she is “Naomi.”
Banks recalled a tense exchange with Campbell when she guest-starred on the Norwegian-Swedish talk show “Skavlan” in 2016. “It wasn’t fair to Naomi, but her reaction was… to this day, ‘I’m very scared of her.’ It was very difficult to deal with – just like some of the worst times in my life.”
And in 2019, she addressed the bad blood again in: “Wall Street” every day interview. “Even though I booked every fashion show, people didn’t know that I would go home crying at night because the woman I admired looked like she just didn’t want me to be there,” Banks said.
“And she did everything in her power to make me leave.” In hindsight, the “America’s Next Top Model” creator said Campbell’s actions weren’t tolerated, but she understood that behind the scenes, industry officials were pitting them against one another and particularly attempting to make the supermodel feel like she lived within the IT Girl role was diminishing.
Elsa Majimbo talks about her experience with Naomi Campbell pic.twitter.com/9SwaWu61dE
— BlacVolta (@BlacVolta) February 18, 2024
In a recent, now-deleted TikTok, Majimbo accused her former mentor of bullying, sabotaging her modeling opportunities and controlling her career. The influencer claimed she was affected by depression and abusing alcohol when Campbell allegedly attacked her because she felt slighted by the 22-year-old’s notoriety without her.
After opening up in regards to the broken friendship, Majimbo claimed she was threatened that her text messages regarding her past problems with white managers who desired to sleep along with her can be leaked by the “Supermodels” star.
The post Clips of Tyra Banks confronting Naomi Campbell over ‘horrific’ on-set moment resurface as veteran supermodel is accused of ruining Kenyan influencer’s career first appeared on 360WISE MEDIA.