Tyra Banks’s good deeds and work as a spokeswoman for womankind and insecure and suffering people everywhere may have gotten the best of her. She faces her alleged stalker, Brady Green, in court this week. Green was arrested at a McDonald’s near Banks’s studio in Chelsea last month, and testified that her shows on racism and homelessness had moved him so much he wanted to get in touch with her. He admitted on the stand that he rode a bus for four days from L.A. to New York. He has no friends, relatives, or work here, and the first thing he did when he arrived was go to Banks’s studio. Banks said her staff warned her to watch out for him that day, after he threatened one of her employees. Green told police he and Banks “had a thing together.”
“I didn’t know what to do. How do I live my life when I leave this building? I had never experienced anything like this before,” Banks said on the stand. Green’s actions creeped her out so much she doesn’t go anywhere out of doors without security guards now. Not even for a jog. “I don’t live that kind of sheltered, protected life. I like to walk around,” said Banks, who, ever the gracious public speaker, smiled frequently during her testimony. When asked if Green’s actions made her fearful, Banks replied, “I don’t fear for my life. I fear for my safety. I fear for the safety of my staff and for my family. And I fear for the safety of people in my vicinity, who I’m with.” Banks added that guests to her talk show are now more thoroughly vetted before attending a taping.
The stalker may have shattered Banks’s nerves but not her spirit, that indestructible thing that has inspired so many around the world to idolize themselves and Banks. And when this case blows over, her “when I was stalked” anecdotes will only bolster, in the most relatable of ways, her undying message of girl power.
