Tyra Banks shares how her ice cream brand led her to her newfound home in Sydney, Australia, with her partner and son.
Tyra Banks has found a new home “down under,” and her ice cream brand, “SMiZE and Dream,” which she launched in 2021, has everything to do with it.
While guest co-hosting during a recent episode of “Today with Jenna and Friends,” the 51-year-old supermodel and businesswoman revealed how her ice cream company inspired her to move to Sydney, Australia, with her partner Louis Bélanger-Martin and her 9-year-old son, York Banks Asla.
“I’ve been going to Australia a lot because we were making a lot of our ice cream there in this big facility, doing our recipes,” she said. “I just fell in love with it. Every time I went back, and went back … and the three countries that eat the most ice cream: America, New Zealand and Australia. So I was like, ‘I’m happy here, and they love to eat some ice cream, so, are we going to do this family?’ And we did.”
Banks, who first revealed in 2024 that she relocated to Australia, shared that she is in the process of opening a “3,000-square-foot flagship store” for “SMiZE and Dream” in Sydney. Reminiscent of go-sees in foreign cities from “America’s Next Top Model,” she also gives viewers a look at her newfound life down under, which has included taking in many of Australia’s world-famous sites.
During the special tour of the city, she shows viewers Tumbalong Park, where she likes to take her son; Darling Harbour, where she enjoys the views of the water—and not too far from where her new brick-and-mortar for “SMiZE and Dream” will be; and the Sydney Opera House.
“I think we know what that beautiful, beautiful building is right there,” she said while standing in front of the iconic building. “I just saw a show there. Do you know that being in Australia, I actually go see live shows at the Opera House? It’s just like a normal thing for us to do.”
After gushing about the opera house, Banks shows off even more waterfront sights while cruising through the Sydney Harbour.
“Now, the best parts of Sydney are the views, and we get to commute by ferry. This is beautiful Sydney Harbour at night,” she said, adding, “Australia has been a dream come true for me and my family.”
She also revealed that she lost her home in Los Angeles during the wildfires in January.
“I lost my house,” said Banks. “I haven’t really talked about it, but, yeah, I have,” she said during an appearance on the Australian morning show “Sunrise.”
“I just didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me,” she explained. “I feel like there’s a lot of people that need that attention, so I haven’t really talked about it, but I can’t sit here and not tell the truth that, yeah, we lost our house.”
Either way, the expat life, like many things, looks good on her!
