WASHINGTON: As host and producer of UPN’s ‘America’s Next Top Model’, Tyra Banks is the idol of young women striving to be as beautiful and successful as Tyra is.

But surprisingly Tyra was teased for her looks as a kid, reports The Star. Banks’ large forehead was a curse back then, but a boon when a modelling agency seized upon it as something that made her unique and marketable.

But Tyra is not the one to rest on her lovely laurels. The pop star debuted the video for her first single “Shake Ya Body” at the end of her TV show.

The single, a dance track produced by Grammy winner Rodney Jerkins features a hard-breathing, booty-shaking Tyra while the show’s remaining six contestants and a bevy of boys gyrating in stylised club scenes are in the background.

“Singing has been a passion of mine for a long time,” said the bootylicious star. “For six years, I’d be ducking in and out of the studio on the down low, cuttin’ tracks, doing it all. But I feel like if you’re not ready to show the world what you’re doing, don’t say nothin’, so I haven’t said anything. But now I’m ready,” mtv.com quoted Banks.

In a latest report, it seems that supermodel Naomi Campbell, known for her diva like attitude, was blasted last week by Tyra for making her life a living hell.

According to The Sun, 30-year-old Tyra said the British catwalk queen had even managed to get her booted off fashion shows. Tyra told Newsweek that the former drug addict’s behaviour affected her so badly she had felt like quitting.

“She did so many hateful things, like getting me thrown off shows because she was more famous. It got so bad that I just wanted to give up”, Tyra said of Naomi, 33.