'Had to be fine as hell': supermodel, 52, is single and dating again

Tyra Banks is single. The supermodel, 52, has split from her partner of nearly seven years, Canadian businessman Louis Bélanger-Martin.

"I'm a single woman now, right? I'm 52 years old, and I'm single," she said on HOT 97 this week.

And she's not sitting at home. "I am dating. It's nice to be single," she told TMZ in New York City on Thursday.

Tyra broke the news during a long sit-down with Nessa on HOT 97, on Wednesday, Nov. 11. She was there to talk about the surprise viral comeback of her 2011 novel Modelland, but the talk turned to love.

Asked about the biggest lesson love had taught her, she said: "I think that it's never too late to start again."

She didn't say when the relationship ended or why.

'Now I don't care, child'

For a while after the split, Tyra said, she was happy just spending time with her mother and her son, and didn't have the "drive" to date. Then something shifted.

"But now I'm like, you know what? It's not too late," she said, according to Hola.

She says getting back out there has made her feel feminine again. "There is no such thing as, 'Oh, it has to be over because of an age or because you're just done.' So I'm living my femininness right now."

Her taste in men has changed too. When she was younger, looks came first.

"I think when I was young that I just, he just had to be fine as hell, man. He just had to be pretty. And now I don't care, child," she said.

She still wants to be attracted to him, she added, but he doesn't "have to be like a supermodel". What she wants most now is a man who is present.

Just don't look for her on Raya. When TMZ asked about dating apps, including the celebrity favourite, Tyra ruled them out. She joked that she didn't even know what Raya was, Page Six reported.

Seven years, one ice cream company

Tyra was first linked to Bélanger-Martin in October 2019, when the pair were spotted at dinner at the restaurant Hutong twice in one week. Some reports say they started dating in 2018.

He co-founded the investment firm Groupe W in 1996 and became the chief financial officer of her ice cream brand, SMiZE & Dream, from 2020 until January 2026, according to his LinkedIn profile, as reported by Yahoo.

The couple moved to Australia with her son, York, where Tyra built the ice cream business. In 2020 she was spotted with a ring on her left hand, sparking engagement rumours, but she later said he hadn't proposed.

In a 2024 interview she credited him with getting her through bouts of self-doubt. "My man is amazing at helping me through those moments," she said.

It's unclear whether Tyra is staying in the US or heading back to Australia, TMZ said.

Tyra shares York, born in 2016 via a surrogate, with Norwegian photographer Erik Asla. They split in 2017 and co-parent. Before that she dated businessman John Oscar Utendahl and NBA star Chris Webber.

Bélanger-Martin has not commented on the split.

And the man who checks all her boxes? On HOT 97 she also told the story of a handsome stranger she met on a plane. Watch this space.