When I started out I didn’t know a size 0 even existed, says Tyra Banks

London: Tyra Banks has spoken out in support of Vogue’s decision to ban rail thin models from its pages and praised the fashion glossy’s 19 editors for banding together to put a stop to “thinspirational” editorial and called for a toast “over some barbecue and burgers”.

Talking about the fashion world and its influence on the modelling industry, the 38-year-old singer highlighted the way standards have changed over the years and said that as a size four, she never would have made it onto today’s catwalks. “Today you are expected to be a size zero. When I started out, I didn’t know such a size even existed,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying in a letter addressed to “models around the world” recited to The Daily Beast. She even called on other women not to point the finger at the models themselves but at the industry that forces them to maintain unrealistic and unhealthy bodies. Understanding the fact that models need to work like everyone else, she told how she regularly mentors young hopefuls who struggle to meet the expectations of designers and magazines. She went on to express her hope, that thanks to Vogue, her phone might stop ringing so frequently with late night calls of desperation and sobs stories. “I don’t think there will be as much of: “I’m hungry, Tyra, and I’m tired. But I still want to do runway and high-fashion work. I want to stay on top’. “With Vogue’s new mandates, things, I hope, will now change for the better,” she said. Banks has long been an advocate for female empowerment and famously appeared on TV with a ball-busting message for the people who had made fun of her after holiday photographs showed her looking heavier than normal. Wearing the same swim suit for which she was derided, she told the haters to “kiss my fat a**.” In her letter today, the voluptuous beauty also called upon mothers to take responsibility for their daughters’ healthy attitude towards body image and recalled how her own mother had taught her to be strong. She even remembered the day she was told she was too curvy to work for certain designers. “As my mom wiped the tears from my face, she said, “Tyra, you know what we’re going to do about this? We’re going to go eat pizza”. “We sat in a tiny pizzeria in Milan and strategized about how to turn my curves into a curveball. “In a way, it was my decision not to starve myself that turned me into a supermodel, and later on, a businesswoman,” she added. ANI