Tyra Banks's Business Took Her All the Way Across to the World to Australia for Good

For years, Tyra Banks was a mainstay in the world of reality TV and modeling with America's Next Top Model. Then, the show fizzled out, The Tyra Banks Show also ended, and Tyra had to figure out something else. Apparently, she did when she started an ice cream business and then moved her family across the world to Australia … permanently.

But why does Tyra live in Australia now? Presumably, she could have conducted her business while still living in California or anywhere in the United States, really. She has spoken about the drastic move and upheaval of her life, and why she chose to set down new roots with longtime boyfriend Louis Bélanger-Martin and her son.

In 2024, Tyra told People that she had been living in Australia with her family. The move became permanent a year before, in 2023. Then, in 2025, she appeared on Today With Jenna & Friends and discussed why she moved to Australia and why she lives there now. Apparently, it was a combination of loving the country itself and using it as a home base for her ice cream company, SMiZE & DREAM.

"I've been going to Australia a lot because we were making a lot of our ice cream there in this big facility, doing our recipes," she said at the time. "I just fell in love with it."

She also noted that Australia is one of the top countries in the world that consumes the most ice cream, so there's that.

"So I was like, 'I'm happy here, and they love to eat some ice cream. So, are we going to do this, family?' And we did," she added.

In June 2025, Tyra even opened up the first physical shop for her ice cream brand. She posted about it on Instagram and shared her excitement over the flagship shop that was, for Tyra, "years in the making."

"Cue the tears," she wrote in the caption. "This is for my Mama Carolyn. For my unstoppable team. For the dreamers who can't stop, won't stop." Of course, it's not lost on fans that the name of Tyra's ice cream company and shop is in reference to one of her memorable ANTM directions for the ladies to "smize," or smile with their eyes.

Tyra started SMiZE & DREAM in 2021, according to People. It all began when Tyra was still the Dancing With the Stars host, and she stuck with it after that gig ended for her. The ice cream was originally sold on a smaller scale in Santa Monica, but online delivery and popup shops eventually came. Now, with Tyra and SMiZE & DREAM based in Australia, she has apparently continued to grow the brand.

Tyra offers both cold and hot (yes, hot) ice cream from SMiZE & DREAM. According to its website, the hot ice cream is "a cross between a hot, velvety drink and an ice cream-style sundae moment without being frozen." As Tyra leans hard into her business, the hot ice cream is a big part of it.