According to People, who scored the exclusive report, Banks will leave to work on launching Bankable Studios, her film production company, and focus on bringing “positive images of women to the big screen.” True to form, Banks was motivational in her parting words: “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,” she said.

The announcement was also tied to Oprah‘s big show-ending news, as an industry source told People, “With Oprah’s big announcement this year, I think that gave Tyra the confidence to get out there and follow her longtime dream of film producing.”

“There’s a lot cooking right now and a lot of fire burning in my heart,” Banks promises in an open letter on her website. “And I salute you my amazing family of viewers; without you there never would have been a Tyra Show. I really love you all.”

Let us never forget:

Jesse Ventura‘s promotional blitz for his new truTV show Conspiracy Theory has been a strange but entertaining mix of made-for-soundbite quotes, stabs at his former employers, and earnest political commentary. In his appearance on last night’s Joy Behar Show, he touched a nerve when he bluntly asked if President Obama “really run[s] the country” given his escalating commitments in Afghanistan. He also stormed out of The Opie and Anthony Show after being heckled by comedian (?) Jim Norton over his antiwar stance.
From the Joy Behar Show:

Ventura: We have military guys that are going on their sixth, seventh, and eighth tour.

Behar: I know, it’s terrible.

Ventura: Isn’t it about time we relieve them of their duty? They’ve done it. The only way you do that, Joy, is with a draft.

Behar: He also says that they’re only going to be there for eighteen months. I mean, you barely have time to learn what you’re doing in eighteen months, right?

Ventura: You know what it tells me when I look at all this: Does he really run the country? How can he go adverse to everything that he talked about in the campaign now? Who’s really calling the shots, maybe? I don’t know.

Behar: Well, that was true, certainly, in the Bush Administration. I mean, they got us into this mess, and now he’s trying to dig us out. And nobody’s really giving him credit for anything he does!

Ventura: Bring ‘em home.

Though Behar is a self-described liberal, it’s telling that Ventura’s talk of drafts got a nonresponse, and that Ventura’s slam on Obama got jiujitsued into a slam on Bush. Ventura is turning the noisy cannons of a 2003-era liberalism on Obama, cannons that had previously been trained on Bush and have been quiet or marginalized for a while. It might hurt his cause a little that he, well, did so while he was promoting a TV show on conspiracy theories. But with disapproval of Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan hitting record levels, Ventura’s stance may not seem so marginal further down the road.

Also on Ventura’s promo tour: things got testy on The Opie and Anthony Show, when Ventura seemingly came close to smacking around comedian Jim Norton over the war and stormed off the set. (contains lots of profanity)

Their most civil exchange:
Norton: “You said the F-word! And you’re the governor!”
Ventura: “I’m only talking your language so you’ll understand me.”

Too good not to include: Ventura on why he’d want Tyra Banks to be his TV host tag team partner. “It’s self-explanatory.” [Joy Behar Show]

Mediaite here, welcoming you back from a dreadfully drab and dour few months away from the glamorous life of New York City’s most fabulous fictional teens. While the Gossip Girl kids were falling in summer love and wearing their Hamptons whites out east, we were stuck in sticky downtown, launching a website and working all day. But who better to keep us occupied through the Gossip-less Dog Days than the media’s own elites, as glittery and pretty as our prep school friends? Like the Waldorfs, Humphreys and van der Woodsens, even August humidity can’t get their hair to frizz and they all love a good scoop.

But it’s not just pristine beauty and a knack for spreading news quickly that unite our favorite CW teen-soap and the media figures whose every move we track: both are worlds of ambition, access and yes, even backstabbing. Some might say it’s all one big popularity contest! But anyone really in the know can see the more subtle similarities between those we watch for fictional drama, and those who inform us of the real deal. As the leaves in Central Park finally start to change colors, the Constance Billiard and St. Judes school years are upon us and with tonight’s Gossip Girl premiere, the Plaza Hotel-sized holes in our hearts will be filled. Consider this a celebration, and you’re on the guest list.

Spotted: Our favorite Gossip Girl characters and their real-life media counterparts.

XOXO,

Mediaite

Erin Andrews: Serena van der Woodsen

Come autumn, school isn’t the only thing kicking off: sports are ubiquitous, with both college and NFL football beginning, and that means the pleasure of seeing ESPN’s heartthrob Erin Andrews, sideline reporter extraordinaire, all the time. “America’s Sexiest Sportscaster” had a tough summer, though, beginning when she was surreptitiously taped changing in her hotel room and continuing with the media whirlwind that resulted after a portion of her mostly male fan club egregiously crossed the line. The Upper East Side’s resident bombshell? The curvy Serena van der Woodsen, a girl who had her own hotel room tragedy when she contributed to a deadly overdose that still haunts her. But like Erin, she’s not a bad girl at heart — the drama just seems to follow her.

Matt Drudge: Eric van der Woodsen

The reclusive Matt Drudge has a reputation that precedes him. A celebrity by name only, the man who built one of the first online empires — and could once singlehandedly dictate a mainstream news cycle — is little known to his legions or detractors. With an arguably waning influence, Drudge seems past his prime. Personally, he is rumored to be currently hiding out in Miami. Eric van der Woodsen also considers the spotlight a little bit too bright — as the gay, depressed youngest in a high-society family, he is known to not appear for episodes at a time. When he does turn up, in between angst, he’s often highly serviceable as Jenny Humphrey or his sister Serena’s sidekick — not unlike Drudge and the mainstream press!

Anna Wintour: Lily van der Woodsen

In her youth, Lily van der Woodsen rejected an upper-class upbringing to live recklessly — part photographer and part groupie. Vogue‘s queen, Anna, had a wild streak, too, dropping out of school at the age of 16. But for both of them, with age came a newfound respect for the safety of untouchable social standing and friends in the highest of places. But can even the fiercest matriarchs do it alone? Wintour has repeatedly denied rumors of an affair with Conde Nast head honcho Samuel Irving Newhouse, while Lily married the Trump-like Bart Bass. Hm…

Si Newhouse: Bart Bass

Come to think of it, rumored romances with assertive, sometimes acerbic women aren’t the only thing Si Newhouse and business bigwig Bart Bass have in common. Sitting atop vast empires, both men are known as cutthroat entrepreneurs, with a hardened sense of propriety and old school values, leading New York to wonder if Newhouse was the “Last Old-Media Tycoon.” Bart passed away, but we’ll always remember his no nonsense sneer.

Shepard Smith: Chuck Bass

With three words now immortal on the Upper East Side, Gossip Girl’s brooding bad boy cemented his own infamy by the age of 18: “I’m Chuck Bass.” And with that, it was unanimous — Chuck was the reason to watch the show. Fox News has their own mysterious and cunning rascal in anchor Shep Smith, and while he’s never ended up in a Thai jail like Chuck (as far as we know), he did have his own run in with the law back in 2000. But even his mugshot was pretty suave! Chuck and Shep are the ones you hate to love and love to hate, but you don’t want to test their tempers: “This is America!” said Smith. “We do not f***ing torture!”

Tyra Banks: Blair Waldorf

In the cutthroat world of New York society, those in their thrones are never truly safe, but for lessons in reigning look no further than The Queen B. Blair Waldorf sees the UES as her kingdom and glory as her birthright, and we imagine she’s a huge fan of the similarly Machiavellian supermodel-cum-host Tyra Banks. The super popular alpha-females believe their vanity to be essential and to them, the charge of being “bitchy” means they’re doing their job. Witnessing Blair preside over her easily influence, glory-seeking minions perfectly parallels Tyra and her Top Model girls, and no one looks better doing it.

Next page: Matt Humphrey, Maureen Dowd, and more.

So get this: a woman with two vaginas — that’s right, TWO VAGINAS — that’s right, vaginas, which is a naughty word — is appearing on The Tyra Show today, presumably to talk about the fact that she has two vaginas. Wait, why is this not-actually-all-that-rare condition getting so hyped up?

From the press release:

It’s a “Tyra Show” international exclusive, meet the woman who was born with two vaginas in an episode scheduled to air on Friday, November 6th. Lauren Williams, who is now 29 years old, was born with two vaginas…

Tyra Banks: “You’re the only pregnant woman that can get pregnant while pregnant.” Tune in to find out what sex is like for Lauren and what 2 vaginas looks like!

While the woman’s condition is fairly uncommon, it’s not so rare as to deservedly subject her to the full Tyra’s-astonished-facial-expression treatment (see photo, above left).

According to a 2001 medical journal article cited by Wikipedia, didelphic uterus, or the condition of having two uteruses & often two vaginas as well, occurs in 1/3,000 women. So: if there are 300 million people in the US and half of them are women, about 50,000 Americans have this rare and freakshowish disorder.

There are about 60,000 Americans with sickle cell anemia (1/5,000 among both sexes). That’s the same order of magnitude; when’s their Jerry Springer Show Tyra Show special?

Here’s a preview of the episode:

McCullum explained his encounters with a producer from The Tyra Show to True Stories Radio:

“They wanted it to be more dramatic than what I actually gave them. I thought it was just me talking about Obama when I got there. ‘We want you to say you don’t want to go to college.’ Any publicity is good publicity.”

Via Media Takeout.

McCullum recounts his appearance on The Tyra Show on True Stories Radio (at 2:55):

McCullum on The Tyra Show:

We missed this on Tuesday, but there were so many jaw-dropping moments in Larry King‘s interview with Tyra Banks we had to put up something. The chyron here spoils the big surprise – Tyra reveals her real hair! But what we don’t get from the image is when she forced King to touch it. Also – Tyra’s past life as a ‘fat person.’

The big secret revealed during the interview was that Tyra Banks had been wearing fake hair since she was 17-years-old, and has now been liberated to the world of real hair. Or, as she described it while King felt her scalp: “Real black girl hair.” Okay then.

Here’s a short clip, and after, another key part of the interview:

King also talked to Banks about weight loss. Our favorite question: “Do you think like a fat person?” Check it out:

King had Michael Moore on last night, in a much more newsy interview. But when Banks and other celebrities occupy the spot, it breaks up the news-focused prime time CNN touts. Then again, it is real hair.

Do you have a pick for Chyron of the Day? Email me at Steve@Mediaite.com with an image or time/network (and check out all the past Chyrons of the Day here)…

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Meghan McCain

Her next issue? Hair extensions!

In her most recent online entry, baldly titled “Yes, I Wear Fake Hair,” McCain reveals that Tyra Banks‘ television appearance without her weave inspired her own admission:

Not all the hair attached to my head is real. Yes, I have been wearing different variations of permanent and semi-permanent hair extensions since high school. Even as far back as middle school if you count the banana hairclip with the sliver of hair attached to it I wore to my eighth-grade dance.

She continues, calling the possibility of an appearance without fake hair “almost unthinkable,” but attempts to maintain her young, hip outsider status by sharing this anecdote in which she rebelled against uptight Republicans:

On the night my father accepted his nomination for president, I wore a giant Madonna ponytail extension (circa her Vogue tour)— much to the dismay of some of the campaign advisers, I might add.

Women, she explains, don’t just wake up looking pretty, and a real woman knows that it’s all about moderation: sometimes it’s okay to be yourself, but other times “it’s OK to get a little extra help when sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t give you everything you want.” This idea seems reasonable enough and that’s exactly how McCain, painlessly crafting her image, wants to be perceived. She spells out for her readers how they’re supposed to feel about her confession, noting that women “seemed to appreciate the fact that I was being real.”

Possibly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not manufactured. And with the soapbox with which she’s been anointed, and the chaotic levels of the current political discourse, are petty issues like this really the best use of her growing voice?

Model-turned-entrepeneur Tyra Banks is throwing her hat into yet another ring today, launching Tyra: Beauty Inside & Out, her online women’s magazine. The site goes live today at 5 p.m. with a feature that will let visitors have their say in fast-tracking one application for the 14th season of “America’s Next Top Model” — sort of a ‘let us judge you on the Internet now, so we can judge you on TV later’ play, and great for traffic.

According to WWD Memopad, the site will cover the usual battery of beauty, fashion, health and dating/sex, and of course, feature a ton of cross-promotional content with Banks’ other properties and projects.

And on the more sensible and mom-ish end of the spectrum, NBCU is pumping more money into its online women’s property and Internet veteran iVillage, founded in 1995, to pay for a redesign and boost traffic, reports the New York Times.

Lauren Zalaznick — NBCU’s branding wiz who has shown a particular acumen for marketing to women — is behind the changes to the site, which will include more streamlined sections and, of course, more cross-promotion with other NBCU properties, namely Oxygen. Larger aesthetic changes to the site will appear Wednesday, and other new elements will continue to appear for the next six months.

From the NYT:

“We are changing our philosophy: we’re not everything to everybody anymore,” said Jodi Kahn, an executive vice president at iVillage who is overseeing the overhaul … Ms. Kahn described it as “very elegantly weaving the topical newsy content, wrapped around conversation and really usable tools that help women manage their day-to-day life.”

… which might be a polite, corporate way of saying ‘we’re going to try to do some sharper, quicker content to try to reclaim some of Jezebel‘s zeitgeist domination.’ Is now a good time to shine a light on the poll with iVillage’s top story: “Are you addicted to Post-Its? Yes! or Nah.”

iVillage.com