Tyra Banks has postponed the opening of her beauty theme park Modelland amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Tyra Banks
The 46-year-old former model - who launched her own interactive cosmetic e-commerce site Tyra.com in 2015 - has been forced to push back the launch of the Santa Monica park, which was due to open its doors on May 1, following the advice of several organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A spokesperson told WWD.com: "As is no surprise, in light of the recommendations of the CDC, WHO and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, we have decided to postpone the opening of Modelland.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and determine a new date to open that is appropriate and safe.
"We remain excited to bring the wondrous world of Modelland to you and will wait to welcome you to our attraction when the time is right."
Tickets had already been sold and were priced between $59 and $1,500 for a full package featuring a photo shoot.
The 21,000 square foot space features retail and food places and aims to "bring modeling to the masses, while expanding the definition of beauty".
Tyra has made an immersive experience through the use of virtual reality and other technologies.
Speaking about the venture, which will be family-frendly, the 'America's Next Top Model' founder sad: "We're very open to partnering with and having integrations with different brands that bring technology to the forefront and make sure what we're providing in Modelland are things you cannot do on your phone."
On who the attraction is for, she said: "I am being very deliberate to make sure this is something families can come to.
"I'm not creating this to service people who want to become models or are models."
The name of the theme park is the same as the 'Life-Size 2' actress' 2011 adult novel, which aimed to highlight the lack of diversity in the modelling world at the time.
On her aims for the park, she added: "I'm happy to see the world is much more celebrating of different types of beauty.
"I think Modelland can be the next iteration of that."
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