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The Bankable Beauty
With an empire at her feet and much more to come, Tyra Banks is the kind of force the world rarely sees.

AS A SUPERMODEL, a talking head and the creator, executive producer and host of America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks is far from just a pretty face. She began her career in the ‚'80s as a top model for Calvin Klein, Armani and Anna Sui, among many others. But perhaps what distinguishes her most is how she has shaped her career, using her personable nature to mentor teens through her charity programs, television shows and countless ventures with her company, Bankable Enterprises. Next up? The September 8 launch of her first online magazine, Tyra: Beauty Inside & Out.

Almost daily Banks reveals ultra-private issues (bad skin, troublesome hair) on The Tyra Banks Show or Twitter. But she's reluctant to share any information about her reported boyfriend of two years, Westhamptonite John Utendahl, the chairman of a $1.5 billion fund. When in the Hamptons, she forgoes the beach and spends her leisurely days formulating new ideas for her projects and sampling local fare. We caught up with the extraordinary beauty on the set of Gossip Girl (where she's been taping an episode for the fall) to uncover the secrets of her success.

HAMPTONS: Tell us about the new online venture.
TYRA BANKS: I call it a "magaLine" It's a place for women to come together and have fun and learn. This is where my audience can get information from me. There's beauty and fashion and makeup and skin‚ all the outside‚ and also the inside: the self-esteem, the self-love, relationships, dating and family issues. It's all wrapped up in a very cool, hip, stylish package. I'm opening myself up to start dialogues among women. The more vulnerable I am, the safer they feel sharing their stories and their insecurities and triumphs. Every month it's going to have a different theme, just like a magazine.

H: What's the first month's theme?
TB: It's about real hair because I'm showing my real hair to everybody! They haven't seen my real hair since Higher Learning when I was 19. There's such a mystery about my real hair because sometimes it's a wig, sometimes it's a weave and sometimes it's a wig-a-weave. I just made that up! I'm exposing myself because there's a very glamorous image that's projected when you put all this hair on top of your head, and I don't wake up looking like that. I have this saying that goes,  - If you want it to grow, let it go.

H: How are you changing the format of your talk show now that it moved to the CW?
TB: It's so nice that I'm finally able to be on the same network as America's Next Top Model so I can promote it on the talk show and promote the talk show on ANTM. The talk show is going to be like a home talk show on their network that will help promote the CW shows like The Vampire Diaries, 90210 and Melrose Place. I changed the skin of the show and the music‚  hip, modern, fresh, energetic. We have one of the youngest audiences so I want the show to move fast. Because of the Internet, Twitter, YouTube and all these outlets pulling them in so many different areas, their attention span is shorter and they get bored faster. I want the best of the best to be on the show and not drag a topic on just because we're supposed to do it for an hour.

H: What are your favorite stories to work on?
TB: I love dealing with teens. I feel like I'm their big sister and that I can say things to them that they wouldn't necessarily accept from their parents. They also say stuff to me that they don't say to their parents.

H: So you're a mentor.
TB: Yes! I'm also taking the bull by the horns and doing live makeovers on stage to show my expertise in makeup. For ANTM we're now calling makeovers ‚ Ty-overs‚  because they're my vision of what the girls should look like. I take audience members, put them on my stage and, with my makeup belt on and makeup all over my face, I have a live band and I shout, "Should I give her a smoky eye?" and the singer follows with "Smoky eyeeeee!"

H: Fun! Was it years of modeling that gave you that skill?
TB: My mom is the queen of makeup. When I was a little girl I used to sit at the end of the bathtub and watch her put on her makeup every single morning she was going to work.

H: Do you have any mentors?
TB: I watched Angela Black on the news when I was about eight years old and I'd say, "Mommy, I like her because she looks like me." She was a black woman, she's doing the news, she's in charge and she's really smart. So I said, "When I grow up, I want to be like Angela Black." I ran into Angela Black in a grocery store and I was like, "Oh my God, did you know that I loved you when I was a little girl?" And she said, "Are you serious? You know who I am?" And I said, "You have no idea how you shaped me as a little girl, just watching you do the news every day."

H: Are you a spiritual person?
TB: Very spiritual. I grew up going to church every single Sunday, and now I go to church about every other Sunday.

H: And what do you do during your downtime?
TB: I love going to the movies, I'm a movie addict. I love to eat. I love food. I love restaurants. I go to restaurants around 16 to 17 times a week.

H: When are you happiest?
TB: I'm happy when I'm doing anything that has to do with planning, creating, facilitating. I'm also happiest in my mom's kitchen.

H: Do you cook a lot?
TB: Oh, hell no! I'm cooking frozen dinners and stuff in there, but she cooks breakfast for me when I'm home.

H: What's your fitness regime?
TB: I moved a couch out of my living room and put in an elliptical trainer and a treadmill. I do about 30 minutes a day, three to four times a week. I watch Sex and the City on DVD because I haven't seen the show before. I went on a get-fit, get-healthy challenge with some friends to see who can get the fittest and healthiest in three months. I actually won because I'm very competitive! I still have what my stylist calls "levels"- meaning boobs that stick out, a butt that sticks out. I have an issue with my stomach -  I suffer from these stomach attacks that happen every two to three months - but I haven't had one since I started this challenge with my friends.

H: Health and beauty go hand-in- hand. What’s your beauty regimen?
TB: I wash my face with Shu Uemura cleanser - it's like an oil makeup remover - and then I wash my face one more time with Aveeno bars from the drugstore for dry skin. Then I put some Aveda hydrating lotion on my face and a little chilled Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado under my eyes. I tie my hair up every single night when I go to bed because I don't want split ends.

H: We read all this personal stuff you tweeted - you're very revealing. When does that become too much?
TB: When people tell me it's too much. My followers tell me all the time on Twitter, "Tyra! TMI! TMI!" My mom raised me where we don't have a lot off limits with what we talk about, so I tend to be very raw and real when it comes to communicating with people, and it's now moved into Twitter.

H: What do you love about the Hamptons?
TB: I still am very confused about which Hampton is which, and I've been coming to Westhampton and Quogue for two years. I'm like, "Is there a North Hampton, West, East, South? Sagaponack Harbor?" I go in the winter, too. I go and I see all the boarded-up shops and there's something so beautiful about seeing all the snow out there. I'm from Los Angeles so I'm not used to snow and it feels like a sleepy town and Santa Claus to me - the Santa Claus that I knew as a little girl.

H: Traditional.
TB: So very traditional.

H: Do you go to the beach?
TB: No, I've probably been to the beach twice. I don't like laying out. I'm not an outside person - it's just so hot!

H: Well you'll be well preserved when you're older.
TB: [Laughs] You know what I love doing? I love going to open houses and decorator showhouses in the Hamptons. Interior design is a passion of mine.

H: What are some of your favorite restaurants?
TB: I love going to the Quogue Country Market. I love the ready made food there. And something about it feels so general store, so like home. It just fills me with warmth and love and everybody in there is just so nice. I also go to this place called Annona for dinner. It's above a luxury exotic-car dealership, Westhampton Coachworks. You can buy a Bentley with your pasta. They also have a Porsche on the menu - for $72,000 you can get a Porsche and some shrimp with that.

H: How funny!
TB: The food there is also so good. I always go there every time I go to the Hamptons. They have this octopus dish that I love, but instead of octopus, I get it with shrimp, and they know that now. There's this place called Finn McCool's I go to as well. It's an Irish pub and they have the best burger and the best corned-beef sandwich - you will lose your mind. They griddle the bread with butter on a grill. The Stone Creek Inn has really good duck meatballs. And I don't eat anything that's not beef, pork, chicken or fish, but I will eat meatballs or a sausage.

H: Is there anything you haven't tackled yet that you'd like to?
TB: There are a ton of things that I'd like to. Children, for one! I don't know if I want one or two. That's a really important part of life that I haven't got to yet, but I will.

BY CRISTINA GREEVEN CUOMO
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SARAH SILVER
AT KATE RYAN INC
STYLING BY BASIA ZAMORSKA AT KATE RYAN INC.
MAKEUP BY VALENTE FRAZIER/KENBARBOZA.COM
HAIR BY OSCAR JAMES/KENBARBOZA.COM