It hit me after graduating from Harvard, we just have to do a college cycle!

[on George Michael] I knew something was different and interesting about him. I knew he was extra special. I had such a crush on him like nobody's frickin' business. I was just like, "Why do I feel so comfortable with him?" I'm that little prepubescent teenage girl feeling so comfortable with him. It was probably because he was gay. I think young girls, their first crushes are gay men. It's a non-threat. Now I look at it and think, "Oh my God, he was gay. That's why I liked him. It was safe and he was gorgeous and stunning, and that amazing voice. And he was shaking that ass." He really resonated with me. Later I was in his music video "Too Funky." I went from being in love with him to being like, "You're fierce, bitch!"

[When she began to question about the natural of beauty and the role race played]: I know that I got the covers of those magazines and that I had a very successful commercial side of the modeling industry. I think it had to do with my coloring and the fact that my eyes were green and my hair is sandy and my skin is caramel-colored. And I look at who society puts on a pedestal when it comes to black beauty, and a lot of the times it's a biracial girl, or a girl that does have lighter skin. I have made it one of the missions of my life to redefine and to open up the small box of what beautiful is.

[Who said about her teenage years in Los Angeles that being a supermodel wasn't a goal nor a dream]: It wasn't something that I always wanted to do -- it wasn't like I grew up and looked at magazines and said, 'Oooh, that's so glamorous, I wanna do that.' It found me. I was thin, I was 98 pounds, I was 5 foot 9, I was an inch shorter than I am now. So that is not just supermodel thin, that's just like, what's-wrong-with-her thin, and I had very low self-esteem because nothing I could do would make me gain weight.

[on her decision to end The Tyra Banks Show (2005) in 2010]: I've been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past five years.

My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are. There's a lot cooking right now and a lot of fire burning in my heart. And I salute you my amazing family of viewers; without you there never would have been a 'Tyra Show.' I really love you all.

[on re-evaluating her eating habits by keeping a food diary]: I switched up my unhealthy eating habits for healthier eating habits, and I haven't had a tummy attack since December '08.

[on watching Sex and the City (1998), while exercising]: I got rid of one of my couches in my living room and I watched Sex and The City episodes on the treadmill or the elliptical, so Sex and the City lasts 30 minutes - that's how long I'm on the elliptical.

[About her longtime struggled with chronic stomach aches]: I would get major attacks. I would be in bed for days, it was so painful.

[About Barack Obama, who was in running for President in 2008]: When Barack won the nomination, I just started bawling. I started calling all these people, and everybody was talking to me like I was crazy. They're like, 'Well, he hasn't won yet,' but I'm like, 'Yes, he has because he's gotten this far.'

I took guitar before ... well for two months but I remember nothing. My fingers used to hurt really bad when I played guitar. I stopped because of it.

I'm a perfectionist. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's OK if there are flaws here and there.

[on Adrianne Curry's complaints that she did not receive what was promised her as the winner of America's Next Top Model (2003).] I have an invested interest in all the girls. I take Adrianne's struggles to bed with me at night. Adrianne's problem was that she went to Europe to try to make it and nobody knew who she was there. So it was like starting over. But after a girl leaves the show it's really up to her to be aggressive and try to succeed.

Believe it or not, I just really know how to pose well. It took me five years to learn what my best angles are.

Black women have always been these vixens, these animalistic, erotic women. Why can't we be the sexy All-American girl next door?

Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It's about accepting all of yourself. You've got to learn to accept the fool in you as well as the part that's got it goin' on.