Tyra Banks on Trying Her First Alcoholic Drink at Age 50: "It Wasn't Worth..."
The guest co-anchor of TODAY waited decades until she tried a boozy beverage — only to hate it.
Guest co-anchor Tyra Banks has graced the fourth hour of TODAY, and she couldn't be happier to join Jenna Bush Hager at the desk this week. Banks is no stranger to the role — she was the longtime host of the smash competition series America's Next Top Model and dazzled from the sidelines as a host of Dancing with the Stars. Banks has been running the show for decades, but she could have fooled us — the multi-hyphenate talent turned 50 in 2023 and celebrated by having her first alcoholic beverage.
Yes, you read that right — Banks waited to have her first drink until her 50th birthday, and she wasn't too impressed. In a 2023 People interview, Banks shared that she celebrated her milestone birthday with her family in Australia, where she decided to try alcohol for the first time.
"My mom and my best friend surprised me there, and it was so magical," Banks recalled. "We took a seaplane, had a meal in the middle of nowhere. I even had an alcoholic drink for the first time!"
While Banks couldn't have been happier to be surrounded by loved ones in a tropical paradise, the experience of trying alcohol for the first time didn't meet her expectations. Banks has long been vocal about her sober lifestyle; according to Vogue, she tried a taste at 12 years old and never felt compelled to drink again. That is, until her 50th birthday when she learned her initial review about booze held up over the decades.
"It wasn't worth it," Banks quipped humorously. "I was like, 'This is nasty!'"
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Tyra Banks "could not wait" to enter her 50s
While you won't find Banks hanging out at the bar anytime soon, she's been thriving in this new chapter of life. "I could not wait to be 50," Banks told People. "I felt it was a rite of passage to be my true self. I like to challenge misconceptions about aging by saying, 'Child, I'm 50!'"
"Recently, I went to a casino to meet friends, and at this casino, you have to show ID to get through security," Banks recalled. "There was an older gentleman next to me, I'm talking great-grandpa old, like 99. And the security guard goes, 'Oh, you two are fine. Just go on in front of everybody. Go in.' And I was like, 'Oh, that's 50'. I said, 'You're not going to card me?' He's like, 'No, girl, you good.'"
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From the runway to the TODAY desk, Banks stays booked and busy, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. "When I was younger, in elementary school, I thought 50 was like great granny," Banks told the magazine. "I thought I would have little glasses and just have a quilt on my lap and watch soap operas all day. I was wrong. What my life is like now is totally different than what I thought. I'm poppin'. I am not insecure about myself. It feels real good."
