Tyra Banks rates Justin Trudeau's smize and explains why smizing is so crucial to mask-wearing

Tyra Banks has made headlines recently for her new job as the Dancing With The Stars host, her new SMiZE icecream but, most importantly, for tips and tricks on how to smize while wearing a mask. She recently had a smize off with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and she's revealed to etalk her rating of his smize and all the reasons why she loves Canada.

Tyra told etalk's Lainey Lui all about her smizing alongside Trudeau. The pair recently had a smize off, and if you don’t know what smizing is, it’s a term coined by the supermodel in 2009 on America's Next Top Model that requires you to smile with your eyes while keeping the rest of your face neutral. We all need some tips from Tyra on how to smize during an era of face-covering, which hides all of our mouths, but we might be able to pick up a few from Trudeau, her smizing protégé.

Tyra and Trudeau’s smize off came about through the Infoman team, a half-hour-long televised series satirizing Quebec and Canada’s current events. Though Tyra says she’s focused on her company, other businesses and being a mom, and tends to say "no" to a lot of projects, she just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to smize with our Prime Minister. “There was something that touched me about being on a show that’s so big in Quebec and to have fun with something, but there’s a bigger message,” she explained. “I always say hide the vegetables in a message or to look at it, not as a vitamin, but a vitamin for a kid that they chew, and it’s gummy, and it’s sugary, but it’s good for you.”

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Tyra said she decided to do that show to entertain and talk about smizing, which meant they were inadvertently talking about masks. “There’s this whole message that in the end it’s really about safety but done in a really fun way with one of the most powerful people on earth,” she said of Trudeau. 

“What I loved about that is he’s willing to have fun. That is so important with leadership, whether you’re leading a business, a household or a country. To be able to like have some lenity and have some fun, and to do fun, crazy, stuff; embarrass yourself, be willing to take that risk,” Tyra said, before rating Trudeau’s smize. “For the smize in the battle 69 per cent, smizing every day when he’s just giving speeches, 120 per cent.”

Tyra continued, “This world leader smizes so beautifully when he’s not even trying,  just every day it’s just his nature. But then it comes down to the battle with Banks."

Besides having fun with our Prime Minister, Tyra said that Canada is very special to her for many reasons. One of the reasons is because her best friend is from Quebec City, and before the coronavirus pandemic began, she would visit her there all the time. “The damn paparazzi would be chasing us all the time, and I’d be like, really? Can I just hang out with my friend in Quebec City?”

The ANTM creator also has another very special person in her life who is from Quebec. Her boyfriend Louis Bélanger-Martin is a Quebec native, and they have been dating for just over two years now.

Tyra told Lainey that it’s “pretty crazy” that her word, smize, has become a word that’s in the dictionary. “I created this word which means smiling with your eyes, and yeah, as you said, 12 years ago, I had no idea how long it was, so thanks for that stat,“ Tyra said with a smile. “I had no idea it would penetrate young, old, men, women. I thought it was a Millennial thing at the time and fun and taking pictures and just creating this confidence and fire inside your eyes whether you’re taking a professional photo or photos with your iPhones.”

The Dancing With the Stars host said that she thinks smizing means so much more now than when she created the word because we're forced to communicate with our eyes when we're in public. “Particularly with us wearing masks to stay safe.,to me, smizing now means talking with your eyes, not just smiling with your eyes. You’re saying thank you or that you have a smile underneath your mask; however, the world can’t see that when you’re doing that, so it’s important to put the energy here,” she said as she pointed to her eyes. 

The former Tyra Banks Show host noted that smizing can now mean “you go first” while standing in a line, it can help communicate “let’s stay 6-feet apart but in a safe way.” She also said that smizing can help tell others that you’re going to be by their side during this difficult time. “I’ve even had doctors and nurses reach out to me on social media and say that they are able to use smizing to speak to their patients,” she added. “I never in a million years would think that it would mean so much more. That fills me with so much hope.”

Looks like it's time to perfect that Tyra Banks smize you've been working on since 2004. 

BEFORE YOU GO: How COVID-19 has changed the beauty industry

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