Tyra Banks was rejected by six modelling agencies

Supermodel Tyra Banks says she was rejected by six agencies at the beginning of her modelling career and found it tough because she was told they "already had a black girl".

Asked what doors were locked to her before she found fame, Banks told Glamour magazine: "Oh, so many. There was a door that was locked because I was a young black model and the first six agencies I knocked at said no - I think four of the six said, 'We already have a black girl'."

"And then once I was successful, designers were like, 'You're getting too thick'. When I wanted to be a television producer, I had a lot of people tell me: 'Oh, you're a model, you could never do that. You walk runways in your underwear'."

The 41-year-old decided to go back to university because she wanted to have a self-funded company, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I'm obsessed with ownership. I want to have the say, not just a say. So, I needed to have the tools. I want to be a really strong leader," she said.