Former America’s Next Top Model star Jay Manuel has claimed Tyra Banks refused to speak to him when the cameras weren’t rolling.
Tyra Banks refused to speak to Jay Manuel when he returned to America’s Next Top Model.
The 52-year-old star brought the 53-year-old makeup artist on board as a creative director when the series first launched in 2003, but he decided to move on eight seasons (referred to as cycles) into the show.
In new Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, Jay recalled emailing Tyra to thank her for the opportunity.
He revealed: “She didn’t respond. It was probably the longest three days ever.
“And she ultimately wrote back just three words. ‘I am disappointed.’
“After that email exchange, all communication just stopped. It should’ve been the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart, but that did not happen.”
Higher-ups at network UPN convinced him to return for one more cycle while they tried to figure out his replacement.
Reflecting on that period, he told PEOPLE magazine: “Tyra chose not to speak with me at all while the cameras were off. When they were on, she’d speak to me.
“After [trying to leave], I did cycle 9, which was … torture for me. I was so broken by the end of that cycle because of the mental torture of what was going on.”
In the documentary, Tyra refused to discuss the situation with Jay, as she insisted she should contact him directly instead.
Now, a year after the piece was filmed, Jay has claimed: “I never got that phone call. I don’t think I’m getting a phone call. She’s got my number.”
Jay left the show 2012 alongside panellists Miss J Alexander and Nigel Barker, with none of the trio given the chance to confirm the news themselves in a statement.
Instead, it was reported to the media that they had been “fired”.
Jay actually reconnected with Tyra five years later when they both attended BeautyCon.
Despite having “a really nice conversation” at the event, they have had “no communication of any sort, text, email, anything” since then, but he is “open” to reconciling and “wishes her no ill will”.
Jay said: “Tyra and I were close, and when we were in New York shooting, or even in LA shooting, she’d be at my house or I’d be at her house, and we would really download.
“But at the same time, and she knows this to be true, the things that are those really, really trusted important things that she has said to me, I will never repeat.
“I will forever honour my relationship with her in the past.”
Why Tyra Banks ‘refused to talk’ to Jay Manuel on final cycle of America’s Next Top Model
