Tyra Banks on Her Iconic Career & Embracing 50

In her more-than-three-decade modeling career, Tyra Banks has seen countless trends come and I go. But she hopes the recent tide of women embracing their age will never go out of style. "I think 50 is the new 30s," says Banks, who will celebrate her milestone 50th on Dec. 4. "I look in the mirror, and I don't feel 50. I'm not insecure about it."

- DANIELA AVILA

Banks recognizes how far she-and society-have come since early in her career, when she'd be critiqued for everything from her skin color to her weight. "Every day I'd hear, 'You're curvy, and you can't do this fashion show," she recalls. "It was very difficult." Still, she pushed on, ultimately becoming the first Black model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and model for Victoria's Secret. "I wanted to be the last 'the first," she says. "I want diversity to be boring. It should just be."