TYRA BANKS - BANKS CANCELS ANNUAL HOLIDAY

BANKS CANCELS ANNUAL HOLIDAY

Supermodel-turned-talkshow host TYRA BANKS has sacrificed her annual holiday abroad - so she can save cash in light of the global economic downturn.
The business-savvy beauty, 34, admits she has reconsidered her vacation plans this winter (08) so she can keep up her tradition of paying her staff Christmas bonuses and giving restaurant waiters generous tips.
She tells Ebony magazine, "I gotta take care of my people. Hotel prices are at a peak. Because of what's going on with the economy I've decided not to take that vacation. So I was like, I'll just chill. I'm doing a 'stay-cation'. Staying in the States."
But Banks confesses she lives a generally frugal lifestyle herself - because she wants to ensure everything she buys is value for money.
The star, who reportedly earned $28 million (GBP18.6 million) in 2007, says, "I'm all about value. For instance, I'm decorating a new apartment in New York right now, and I have a meeting with the designer and I'm going to tell him, 'I don't care how much money they say I make in a year. It could be more, it could be less. But you don't need to be looking at that number and spending my money as if it is yours.'"
Her best pal Kenya Barris, who helped bring Banks' America's Next Top Model show to TV, adds, "The thing she is impressed with is getting a deal on something. She gets a kick out of being frugal."