Image: Getty Images Tyra Banks has changed her modelling name to "BanX" because she has become a "wiser and thicker" woman.
The 45-year-old model has come out of retirement from the modelling industry to pose in a yellow bikini on the cover of the 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which marked her return to the magazine after being the first African-American model to pose on the cover alone in 1997 after being a joint cover star with Valeria Mazza in 1996.
And Tyra has now revealed that she replaced the letter 'S' in her modelling moniker with an 'X' because it represents "rebirth" and the "breaking" of beauty boundaries.
She told SI: "[The new name symbolises] X-ing out cookie-cutter beauty. Mononyms are exciting in the industry. But usually models use their first names, like Iman. I want to flip the script and go by my last name. I'm taking something familiar and making it new. I'm wiser now and thicker."
"BanX is me, but she's also every woman. BanX represents rebirth and that beauty boundaries only exist to be broken."
The TV personality and entrepreneur- who is covering the iconic issue for the third time in her long career - was photographed by Laretta Houston in the Bahamas, and the former Victoria's Secret Angel admitted that she is happy with her thicker figure and wants to tell women all over the world that beauty can come in all "shapes, sizes and ages".
She added: "I am telling people that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and ages. I have to put my money where my mouth is. I have to make sure my message is pure."
And Tyra was picked to be on the cover of the long-running magazine because she represents their "ethos".
In a statement, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor MJ Day, said: "Since Tyra's first cover in 1996, she's transformed herself into nothing less than a mogul, a cultural force and a supernova of inspiration and empowerment. She's kind of the Swimsuit Issue ethos come to life, everything we know this franchise can be."
