The legendary 43 year old supermodel, Tyra Banks, showed off her son recently in New York, NY. She and her boyfriend, Erik Alsa, share a 17 month old son, York, who was born in January 2016 via a surrogate mother.
In case you’re wondering who Erik Alsa is, he’s a popular Norwegian photographer who Tyra met while filming an episode of her hit TV show, America’s Next Top Model in 2013.
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Their son shares physical characteristics of them both- he has Tyra’s signature eye color, and Erik’s jawline and cheeks. But there is one inherited feature Tyra is ecstatic he’s gotten from her- her classic “smize” facial expression. For years, beauty/fashion corporations have paid Tyra big bucks to “smize” as she calls it, which is the ability to smile with your eyes only.
When Tyra gushed about her son in the beginning of this year, while on Late Night With Seth Meyers, she couldn’t help but talk about York’s smizing” abilities:
Via People: “I am not a stage mom. I don’t want you to think I’m like, ‘You ain’t going to get no peas and carrots if he don’t smize.’ He just has that natural thing,” the 43-year-old America’s Got Talent host told Meyers. “I had it when I was young too.” That doesn’t mean Banks wants York to follow in her career path. “I do not want him to model, Lord,” she said. “But he had that thing. Look at him. He’s like, ‘Hellooo. I am smizing.’ ”
We don’t know much about “smizing” and all, but what we do know is Tyra’s and Erik’s 1 year old lil’ man is a cool kid and has some big shoes to fill once he grows up under the wings of such successful parents. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for York though. Who knows? Maybe in about 16-17 years, we’ll be seeing him blazin’ the runways too. No pressure though, York, just do you lil’ man.
