America’s Next Top Lawsuit: Why Tyra Banks Is Going To War Over Netflix’s ANTM Documentary
In February, Netflix aired a documentary that felt long overdue: Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model . Even though the America's Next Top Model ( ANTM )was a pop culture phenomenon from 2003 to 2018, some of the challenges were problematic, and the model hopefuls didn't always feel respected on the long-running series.
Creator and host Tyra Banks was considered the mentor on ANTM, but she never really took accountability for the sometimes controversial moments. The Netflix documentary gave her the opportunity to tell her side of the story, but for any fan who watched the three-part series on the streamer, it wasn't her best walk down the runway.
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And it sounds like Banks knows it, because she's hitting back with a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, 89 Blocks Holdings, EverWonder Studio, Netflix Music and co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan filed on Saturday, June 13, per People. The fashion icon thinks she was falsely portrayed and is seeking a jury trial to determine the amount of damages she should receive for the allegedly unjust narrative.
Why is Tyra Banks suing Netflix?
The lawsuit claims that Banks "believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show's legacy—its successes and its shortcomings." She wanted to take "accountability, and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly." Her legal team noted that Banks sat down for a "three-and-a-half-hour interview" and openly discussed the "criticism of decisions she would approach differently today."
Banks was only featured in 16 minutes of the three-part documentary series, which also highlighted allegations from contestants about body-shaming, sexual harassment, and poor working conditions. In the final version viewers saw on Netflix, it appeared that the former Dancing With the Stars host was detached from taking any accountability.
MICHAEL YARISH/The CW Network.
The docuseries also shed new light on how America's Next Top Model handled Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan's drunken night out with Italian male models. She had a serious boyfriend at home, but she was seen climbing into bed with one of the men. At the time, it was framed as a huge betrayal of her boyfriend as the cameras caught her mental breakdown. A fresh look at it in 2026 becomes a conversation of consent when someone is so drunk: Why didn't someone from the production step in?
Banks' lawyers allege that there was some creative editing in her interview to make it look like she barely remembered the incident — and that moment in the documentary is awkward.
The lawsuit even dives into her fractured friendship with ANTM judge Miss J Alexander, who suffered a massive stroke in December 2022. While many of the former cast members rallied around Miss J, the docuseries claimed Banks was nowhere to be seen.
In February, Miss J confirmed on the Sherri show that Banks had "reached out," but never visited them after their illness. That's where Banks gets defensive in the lawsuit.
"Had the producers informed Ms. Banks that part of the Netflix Series narrative would include Miss J saying that Ms. Banks never visited him in the hospital, Ms. Banks would have explained that she had been living in Australia for 2 1/2 years," the legal documents read, while noting the multiple attempts to reach out through voice notes and video messages. "She would have shown how hard she tried to get in touch with Miss J personally when she had initially heard the news of his stroke."
How are the ANTM alums reacting to the lawsuit?
Even though Banks is seeking justice for telling her side of the story, she isn't getting much support from former ANTM contestants. Cycle 1 winner Adrienne Curry put a not-very-sympathetic Instagram video on June 15.
"I read that Tyra Banks is suing Netflix because she didn't like being edited," Curry said while giggling. "Bitch! For real girl? Like…"
Cycle 14 and 17 participant Angelea Preston also had some cutting words for Banks, telling EW , "Now you know how we feel. It's kind of like a taste of your own medicine, in a way."
Preston unsuccessfully sued America's Next Top Model in 2014 for $3 million after she won Cycle 17, but was then removed as the winner because production learned of her sex worker past. (A new ending was later shot with official winner Lisa D'Amato.)
And one look at the comments under Curry's social media post also indicate that Banks isn't getting any love from fans either — lots of mentions about "karma" and "how the tables have turned." Let's just say no one seems to be "rooting" for her.
For now, Banks will have to seek justice from the courts if they find out she should be on top.
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