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Tyra Banks called Olivia Jade brave for going on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

The former supermodel expressed her thoughts to Entertainment Tonight.


Fabiana Buontempo
Senior Writer
SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 1:48 PM EDT

Last week the cast of the new season of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ was announced and it’s a star studded line up. YouTube star and daughter of Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, Olivia Jade is one of the season’s cast members.

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To recall, Olivia was a part of the controversial admissions scandal, where both of her parents paid 500k for their two daughters to get admitted into the University of Southern California. Now, host of ‘DWTS’  Tyra Banks  is weighing in on Olivia joining the cast.

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During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Tyra expressed her thoughts on the scandal that took the world by storm.” I think Olivia is so brave. I think people don‘t know her, they know what happened to her,“ the former supermodel said. ”She has said that she did not know about what was going on and it’s really sad, and it‘s very hurtful when something publicly happens but you had nothing to do with it. So I trust that she says she didn’t know.”

“She is having to deal with that and I think she‘s coming to ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to be able to tell her story and show her vulnerability,” Tyra said. “And is she a celebrity? Not traditionally, but what is a celebrity today? If that’s the case then there‘s no Instagram influencer that is a celebrity. We are in a whole different world and celebrity has taken a turn and a change.”

“If people are talking about you, you‘re famous,” Tyra added during the interview, “And you can be on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’”

In another interview with ET, Olivia said what she’s hoping to get out of the show. “I just want to make it very clear that it is important to learn from the past and I am a big believer in second chances,” she said. “I am still young and I am still trying to figure it out and I hope that I just continue to grow every day. And I think because this process is so challenging, you learn so much about yourself, which I am excited for. [I‘m] putting myself outside of my comfort zone.”