When the clock turned to 4 p.m. ET last night I guarantee a large number of Americans tuned in to the Tyra Banks Show. Some wanted to see if she would really wear the infamous bathing suit she sported in tabloid photos a few weeks ago that prompted media critics to call her fat. Others wondered how she would address the criticism.

Her audience wasn't disappointed. Tyra marched out on stage last night proudly wearing the strapless one-piece bathing suit and, while she did not look supermodel skinny, she by no means looked fat. Not the "real world" idea of fat anyway. Tyra looked directly into the camera and addressed the media, lambasting them for buying into the modeling industry stereotype that women can only be beautiful if they are a size zero. She fearlessly displayed photos of herself that showed rolls of fat and cellulite, declaring that those were traits of a real woman, not an airbrushed magazine model. She then angrily stated that they could kiss her "big fat ass".

I give Tyra plenty of credit for facing her critics and speaking out for women who can't and do not want to achieve the ridiculous standards for body size put in place by Hollywood executives and magazine editors. She was right that the industry plays a role in causing many actresses and models to develop eating disorders. But there was one point in the show where I found Tyra to be completely off base. The episode featured an 88 pound model named Yael who believed models had to be skinny to be beautiful. It was quite obvious that the young woman suffered from an eating disorder but was in deep denial. Tyra spent a good portion of the show trying to change the girl's view of body image and convince her that skinny was unhealthy.

Tyra obviously needs to be informed about eating disorders a little more before she starts lashing out at girls who suffer from them on her show. She could have argued with that girl all night long and still would not have changed her mind. An eating disorder is a form of mental illness and those who suffer from it have a distorted image of their bodies. They believe that they are healthy, even if they are surviving on less than 1,000 calories per day. The best thing Tyra could have done is to talk about the reality of eating disorders and lined up some help for that girl. Speaking out about unhealthy body images is one thing, but publically bashing a girl for a condition she will not be able to change without medical help is just wrong.