Tyra Banks' fat food

Apr 22, 2007, 7:00 GMT

Tyra Banks- Madison Square Garden in New York, 16 April 2007. EPA/JASON SZENES

Tyra Banks gorged on fatty food and high-calorie drinks when she was younger because she was desperate to gain weight.

The Victoria's Secrets model - who was reported to have gained weight after unflattering photographs of her in a bikini were published - says she was so thin as a child she tried everything to pile on the pounds.

She said: "I was too thin. People would look at me like I was ill, because I was stick thin and alienesque. It was just my natural weight but I was unhappy, trying to gain weight. I would come home from school and my brother would make me peanut butter and chocolate shakes. We didn't know about protein, we were just trying to put as much fat in me as possible."

Tyra, who now hosts her own talk show, also says she had no idea why people thought she was good looking while she was growing up.

She added: "When a girl came up to me on my first day of high school and said I should be a model I found it a little odd because I'd never thought of myself as beautiful.

"I've never thought men thought I was beautiful because when you're thin and look like an alien and someone's saying you should be a model, that's not men saying you're attractive, that's just doing high-fashion modelling!"

(C) BANG Media International