Tyra Banks filed a federal lawsuit against Netflix on Saturday, alleging that the streaming platform manipulated her interview footage to create a false and defamatory portrayal of her in the docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.”
The lawsuit, filed in California and obtained by multiple news outlets, names Netflix, production companies 89 Blocks Holdings and EverWonder Studio, Netflix Music, and co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan as defendants. Banks is bringing claims of defamation, false light, breach of contract, and false endorsement, and is seeking a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages.
Banks says she agreed to participate in the project believing it would offer viewers an honest discussion about both the highs and lows of “America’s Next Top Model,” the reality competition series she created and hosted for 22 of its 24 seasons beginning in 2003. She sat for a roughly three-and-a-half-hour interview and, according to the suit, answered candid questions about controversial moments from the show, including decisions she says she would handle differently today.
What aired, however, was a different story. The lawsuit claims producers used only about 16 minutes of her interview and reassembled the footage to construct a narrative she says bears no resemblance to what she actually expressed. Portions in which she accepted responsibility for the show’s most criticized moments were cut entirely, the filing states.
The lawsuit singles out one moment as particularly egregious. Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan had described an encounter during production in Milan as a sexual assault in the docuseries, something Banks says she had never been told. When director Loushy then asked Banks on camera whether she remembered Sullivan’s story, the series shows Banks glance upward, say “um,” and then cuts to black. The implication, the lawsuit argues, is that Banks could not recall the story of a woman assaulted on her own show.
Banks’ lawyers say the unedited footage tells a completely different story: that Banks nodded and said, “I do remember her story.” The suit calls the edited version “a complete fabrication” that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.
The filing also alleges Banks was never told Sullivan would be participating in the docuseries or that she was characterizing her experience as an assault. Banks further claims she was not given a chance to respond to accusations producers had gathered from other participants before her own interview took place.
Banks did not see the completed docuseries until February 15, 2026, one day before it premiered on Netflix, by which point trailers and promotional materials were already in circulation. The lawsuit also takes issue with cover art for a soundtrack tied to the project, which Banks alleges used her image without authorization and falsely implied her endorsement.
Netflix declined to comment.