When I read the “Tyra Banks is single” headlines the first person I thought to Gossip Genie her with was Drake. And a quick scroll on Instagram tells me she is (or was recently) in Toronto! Coincidence? Yes, probably. Or the gossip forces are at work.

Watching one of the most popular trad wife influencers pivot away from the genre in real time is something else. The media has always tried to wring meaning out of this content but it was never about family values, it was aways about opportunity, the same way looksmaxxing and video game streamers and mommy bloggers have all, at one point, dominated online conversations. Influencers follow the clicks, and for a myriad of reasons (like the shifting political winds in the US), pretending to drink milk straight from a goat’s teat is not as popular anymore.

“I love semiconductors!” I’ve watched this three times and can’t stop laughing.

Before prestige TV and streaming, TV actors were implicitly B-tier and movie actors were A-tier. Being in sh-tty movies was considered better than being on the best network TV show. Many tried, and failed, to make the jump from TV to film and it took a special person to succeed (like George Clooney). In the 90s, it was unfathomable that someone like Julia Roberts would do TV. Now, that invisible barrier has shifted – reality TV stars are B-tier, and actors are A-tier. Sure, there have been actors who took a walk through reality TV (like Emma Stone on In Search of the Real Partridge Family) but there hasn’t been anyone who is super famous on reality TV and translated that fame into sought-after roles. Not stunt casting, not cameos, but actual acting jobs. The closest who have come to it have been Nene Leakes and Ariana Madix. Gabby Windey is trying to bridge that gap – she’s done The Bachelor and The Traitors and is trying to make the leap with Netflix’s The Body.

Following a buyback from founder Reese Witherspoon, Hello Sunshine has laid off half its staff. This sucks and also makes total business sense: Candle Media wanted to transform it into a content and commerce platform, but that didn’t happen and it seems like Reese is focused on producing, not growing the lifestyle side. That means anyone who worked on the lifestyle side likely lost their job. Reese is pretty consistent on Instagram (her content is clearly put together by a social media team) but she has said nothing about buying back her company. I think she’ll acknowledge it when she announces a new project under Hello Sunshine.

Tyra Banks in NYC, November 12, 2026

Photo credits: Roger Wong/INSTARimages

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