Tyra Banks says partner Louis Bélanger-Martin helps her through her insecurities

Tyra Banks is opening up about her supportive partner.

Banks, 50, has been reportedly linked to Canadian businessman Louis Bélanger-Martin since 2018. 

While they have kept their relationship mostly private, Banks shouted out her boyfriend during an interview on TODAY that aired on Oct. 18. She thanked him for helping her work through her insecurities. 

“That’s where my stuff happens — of self doubt, am I good enough, am I just a model?” she said. “My man is amazing at helping me through those moments.”

This isn’t the first time Banks has referenced her partner in interviews, though she never mentions Bélanger-Martin by name. 

Read on to learn more about Banks’ relationship with her boyfriend, Louis Bélanger-Martin. 

Banks has opened up about his support for her in the past

During a recent interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” while discussing her recent return to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway, she revealed her partner was in the studio.

“I was talking to my man about it — he’s backstage somewhere — I was saying, ‘I was walking, and normally I would walk for myself … but when I was walking on that Victoria’s Secret runway this time, I felt like everybody was inside of me. Fifty-year-old women, insecure women,’” she said.

She also revealed that her boyfriend had wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday last December with a big party.

“My man, he wanted to throw this huge 50-year-old birthday for me and I kind of found out about it,” she told People last September. “I let him know, I have no desire to do that. I just want to go to Disneyland with the family.”

Banks shares an 8-year-old son, York Banks Asla, with her former partner Erik Asla.

He and Banks are business partners

Bélanger-Martin is the chief financial officer of Banks’ ice cream company, SMiZE Cream. 

A veteran entrepreneur, he also co-founded Groupe W, a private investment firm, in 1996. He has also served on the boards of multiple organizations, including E2IP Technologies, SONIFI Solutions and Global Eagle Entertainment, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Like Banks, Bélanger-Martin took a certificate course at Harvard Business School, completing a program called Making Corporate Boards More Effective as part of the business school’s Executive Education Program in 2013. 

Banks, meanwhile, graduated Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program in 2012. 

Bélanger-Martin is also a certified management accountant, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Banks shot down engagement rumors in 2020

Banks sparked engagement rumors in 2020 when she was photographed with some bling on her left ring finger.

However, in a September 2020 interview on “The Tamron Hall Show, Banks clarified that it wasn’t an engagement ring.

“They’re talking about the ring. I don’t even have it on right now,” she said. 

The supermodel and entrepreneur went on to explain that the ring was shaped like a crab and was made of opal, not diamonds.

“It’s a crab, it’s an opal … It is not a crab-opal engagement ring. It is just a ring!” she said.