The 42-year-old claimed the English beauty (Naomi Campbell) was terrified she would steal her position in the industry due to the fact she was also a clotheshorse of colour, and behaved despicably towards her because of it.
Talking about her rise to fame during an appearance on Norwegian-Swedish show Skavlan at the weekend, she said: '"I got to Paris and it was very difficult. I did very well, very fast.
'But then the industry was saying, "Look out Naomi Campbell, here comes Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell sit your butt down, this younger one is coming to take your place.'"
'It was really unfair to her because the other models that weren't black, like Kate Moss came up, we were the same generation, they weren't saying, 'Look out Christy Turlington, this cheek bone girl has cheekbones higher than yours! Get back!' You know, so they weren't saying that.
'So, you know, it wasn't fair to Naomi, but her response to this day was... I'm very scared of her.'
Tyra, who is worth an estimated $90 million, claims she had to leave modelling agencies and that her mother even quit her job due to their feuding ways.
'I don't want to go too deep into the past, but it was very difficult, very, very. Some of the lowest times of my life I'm dealing with that.
'I don't condone her actions and her response, but I understand where it comes from, because the world is saying "you're not gonna have your spot, we're gonna take your money, we're gonna take your fame, go sit down, there's somebody else."
