Tyra Banks Urges Women to Embrace Aging in PEOPLE’s 2024 Beautiful Issue [Video]

“When I was younger in elementary school, I thought 50 was great granny,” says Tyra Banks, supermodel and former host of America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. “I thought I would have little glasses and just have a quilt on my lap and watch soap operas all day.”

It certainly didn’t turn out that way.

“What my life is like now is totally different than what I thought 50 was going to be when I was a little girl,” says Banks, who celebrated her milestone birthday in Australia, where she has been working and living with boyfriend Louis Bélanger Martin and son York, 8 (whom she shares with ex Erik Asla). “I’m poppin’. I am not insecure about myself. I ain’t trippin’. I often say ‘Child, [I’m] 50!’ before I say something. That statement gives me permission to say whatever the heck I feel like saying.”

At this age, Banks truly knows herself. “I’m …