Tyra Banks Kinda Regrets Posting a Picture of Her Son on Instagram

The America's Got Talent host waited "for over a year" before sharing a photo with fans

By Zach Johnson Jul 28, 2017 1:10 PMTags

One month ago, the world met Tyra Banks' son, 18-month-old York Banks-Asla.

As Seth Meyers noted on NBC's Late Night Thursday, the 43-year-old America's Got Talent host did not publish any photos of her child on social media for over a year. "Congratulations!" he said. "You made it longer than I did. I had the plan not to." Meyers caved much earlier than Banks ever did, and for a much different reason. And now, his 16-month mini-me is regularly featured on his Instagram. "It was just like, 'The world needs to see this little angel,'" he joked.

"It wasn't so much that I was itching for the world to see him. I went to a restaurant for Father's Day with my son and my dad. It was by the ocean and my son was, 'Awa! Awa! Awa!' Water. And so I was like, 'OK, you're going to get in the water for the first time.' I slathered him with sunscreen; he was looking purple, 'cause he's black, so when we put on sunscreen we look purple," Banks said. "And he just was looking crazy—got slammed by waves, sand everywhere."

Lloyd Bishop/NBC
Instagram

As they were leaving, Banks spotted the paparazzi taking pictures. "I'm trying to hide him with a blanket. I pull over the gas station after they get the shot, I text his dad [fashion photographer Erik Asla] and I'm like, 'I've got to put this picture out before the paparazzi. I don't want them to make money off our child and have the first picture.' So, I posted the damn picture," she recalled. "The next day, there ain't no paparazzi pictures, 'cause mama knew how to hide that camera. She's a supermodel for a reason! And so now his picture is out there and I didn't need it to be!"

Though she regrets posting the photo, Meyers liked seeing it. "You have a beautiful baby. He is something else. I know you've sort of popularized the idea of smizing—smiling with your eyes. It seems like that's what your son is doing here," he said. "Did he learn how to smize from you?

Banks—the creator and host of America's Next Top Model—wanted to make one thing clear: "I am not a stage mom. I don't want you think that I'm saying, 'You ain't gonna get no peas and carrots if you don't smize!' He has that natural thing; I had it when I was young, too. But I do not want him to model. Lord! But he has that thing. Look at him! He's like, 'Hello! I'm smizing.'"

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