It has been a solid 24 hours since Netflix released it’s highly talked about documentary, “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a project that has since launched a myriad of reactions from viewers online. It’s also prompted some of the participants to speak out and some of their reactions just might surprise you.
Suggested Reading
Let’s start with Cycle 4 contestant Tiffany Richardson, who was famously yelled at by host Tyra Banks after she got eliminated. While the phrase “we were rooting for you, we were all rooting for you” is now etched in pop culture’s cannon, it came at the expense of Richardson’s dignity as her mistreatment by Banks in that moment was highly unwarranted, as many expressed back then and now.
While she spoke out in the immediate aftermath of the show in 2005, not much has been heard from her since. However, after seeing the events played out and contextualized by Banks in the new documentary—who didn’t do much to really make the situation right—Richardson took to social media to once again blast the popular TV show host, calling her a bully and revealing that her words were far worse than what aired on TV. (This was also a claim that former judge Jay Manuel made in the doc.)
“You are one lying a*s tied a*s b*tch..you know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera, YOU WAS A BULLY!!! You treated me like sh*t and said the nastiest things about me and my son. That is not how the argument went but YALL EDITED IT TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU CARED,” Richardson wrote in a since-deleted post to Instagram.
She continued in part: “F*CK YOU. I BET YOU WON’T SIT DOWN WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!…@tyrabanks hoe just let it go, IT’S BEEN OVER 20 years.”
For Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan who was famously sexually assaulted while inebriated during a cast trip to Milan, they spoke out about their involvement in the doc via post to Instagram. As you may well remember, her assault was framed as deliberate cheating as she was in committed relationship with her boyfriend back home in Kansas. However, in a surprising admission, she revealed that she agreed to take part in it because she realized that Banks had no “control over my narrative” and that the producers the director.
“Welp the documentary is out and now you know more of my story…after all of the years the Top Model girls and what we went through were never forgotten,” Sullivan wrote in part.
She continued: “I smiled through it. Knowing that my friends, my family, Eric’s family, and strangers were going to know what I had done, what happened to me. At the age of 43, I continue to struggle with it; always smiling. That’s why I took this opportunity. Knowing that Tyra didn’t have control over my narrative, that the director and producers here had my back…that’s why I did it. I did it for me. Because I mattered and I still do! The love I have felt today has been immense. Thank you to everyone that heard me.”
Fellow Cycle 4 contestant Keenyah Hill also took to Instagram to share her involvement in the documentary, saying that she was “grateful to have been a part of such a legendary show,” but acknowledged that every woman’s experience was different.
“Sending SO MUCH LOVE to the ANTM Alumni. I know we all had very different experiences on the show and I feel for everyone who had to heal from the aftermath with half the world watching!!” she wrote in part.
In a followup post, she credited the last 20 years (which coincides with the time since she left “ANTM”) as the impetus for her modeling mentorship program, Find Your Light.
“If you’ve ever been made to feel smaller in your own skin, know this: your presence is not up for debate. There is space for you to stand fully, exactly as you are. I chose to rewrite the narrative I once accepted. Now, I create spaces where every aspiring model is heard, respected, and empowered. My journey became my purpose,” she said.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.