1992: At 18, she walked for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. "I was very thin, naturally. I wasn't aware of any body pressures at this point, oh no." Photo by: Pierre Vauthey / Corbis
Tyra Talks Back| Tyra Banks
"It was such a strange meanness and rejoicing that people had when thinking that was what my body looked like," says Banks, 33, explaining her decision to speak out as she walks around the lake in L.A.'s Kenneth Hahn Park. "It was really hurtful to me." She also worried about the effect such reports would have on her fans. "I get so much mail from young girls who say, 'I look up to you, you're not as skinny as everyone else, I think you're beautiful,' " Banks says. "So when they say that my body is 'ugly' and 'disgusting,' what does that make those girls feel like?"

As for how Banks feels about her own 5'10" body – which she says is at 161 lbs. these days, about 30 lbs. heavier than when she landed on the cover of SI's swimsuit issue in 1997 – well, the answer is one any woman can relate to. "I don't want to sit in front of you and be soap-boxy and fake and say, 'I love myself, I'm beautiful, it's great,' " Banks says. "I still feel hot, but every day is different. It's when I put on the jeans that used to fit a year ago and don't fit now and give me the muffin top, that's when I say, 'Damn!' "

In other words, yes: She has put on weight, though not nearly as much as those recent tabloid stories suggested. (Banks believes the pix were snapped at an unflattering angle.) "She has a very womanly, gorgeous body that goes up and down," says her good friend Heidi Klum. In fact, Banks says that since she retired from modeling in 2005, the number on the scale has fluctuated from 148 lbs. to 162 lbs., depending on how well she is taking care of herself. "I feel more comfortable when I'm lighter – I sleep better, I snore less, I have more endurance when I work out, my arms look better," she admits. "But I don't have the desire to really keep it up. When I was modeling, I remember one year in Milan, Veronica Webb and Karen Alexander would be going to the gym every single day during the collections. I was like, 'Wow, I want that.' I wish I had that discipline."