Tyra Banks is taking her childhood awkwardness and turning it into a new comedy series. The model and television producer successfully pitched Fivehead, an autobiographical series about her journey from youth to superstardom, to ABC Studios.
Banks told ESSENCE.com exclusively that the show’s title comes from her experiences of being teased about her forehead size. “I’ve had quite a large forehead my entire life and when I was young I actually felt it was growing faster that the rest of my face,” she said on the red carpet of her first Flawsome Ball to benefit her T-Zone foundation for girls.
“It wasn’t a super huge insecurity. To this day, I’ll look on the Internet and see, ‘Fourhead’ is doing a new show, or ‘Fivehead’ is doing this.’ So, I said you know let me embrace this.”
And embrace it is what she did. The 38-year-old will serve as co-creator, executive producer and narrator for the upcoming series.
The idea for a TV show came after posting a picture of herself on Instagram. “My forehead looked big and I said, ‘Fivehead crew where you at? I challenge you to a Fivehead contest to see who’s forehead is bigger.’ And it blew up,” Banks revealed. “Then I started asking people if they wanted to be a part of my fivehead crew. I was like wait, ‘I’m noticing something here. There are a lot of fiveheads in the world and we need to unite!'”
Banks said the lead character will be “about 15-year-old, named Ty or Tyra and going through the trials and tribulations of her 15-year-old, awkward, big forehead, doesn’t know what is happening with her body or crazy family.”
The Harvard Business School certificate graduate will team up with friend and America’s Next Top Model co-creator Kenya Burris to produce the show. There is no news yet on a premiere date or cast, but according to Banks, she will be making regular guest appearances.