Miss J Alexander, the very man who glided across our screens on America’s Next Top Model fixing posture with a single glance and teaching girls how to serve face, hips, and attitude in 30 seconds flat, is now opening up about the fact that his life hasn’t always been glitz and glamour.
In the new docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, the legendary runway coach pulled the curtain all the way back on a health battle most of us had no idea about!
On December 27, 2022, Miss J suffered a stroke. Not a scare. Not a quick hospital visit. A full-on medical emergency that left him in a coma for five weeks. “I woke up, I didn’t know where I was, other than the hospital,” he said. “I spent five weeks in a coma. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk.”
The docuseries shows the small room he lived in for over a year after the stroke. From global fashion weeks to rehab walls. Miss J calls it an “emotional. “I cried. I’m not ashamed to say I cried.”
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But two familiar ANTM faces made sure he wasn’t fighting alone. Photographer Nigel Barker and creative director Jay Manuel both visited him in the hospital.
“I don’t know if he wanted me to see him in that way, but I was going to see him,” Barker said. “That was such a terrible shock and really upsetting and horrifying and scary.” Manuel added, “I could feel how upset he was, for sure. I can’t even imagine where he was in his mind.”
Barker even recalled crying with Miss J and holding him. And Miss J, reflecting on it, shared, “I thought back to when we used to do shows together. I just missed them so much.”
When the trio reunited for the docuseries, you could see the progress. Manuel told him, “You’re speaking so much better now.”
Barker, trying to keep it together, reminded him how far he’s come. “You’re battling through,” he said. “When we first saw you in the hospital, you could barely walk, barely talk, and now you’re sitting up, doing an interview, rolling your eyes, making us laugh. It’s a long journey, but you’re going to get there. I know it’s been really, really hard.”
As Barker got up to hug him, Manuel added, “The thing is, you’re here. That’s the thing.”
But Miss J didn’t pretend like losing his mobility hasn’t shaken him. The man who built a reputation teaching models how to glide now finds himself on the other side of that lesson.
“I miss being the queen of the runway, the queen of the catwalk, of course,” he said. “I’m the person who taught models how to walk. I taught models how to walk, and now I can’t walk.”
Still, he’s not counting himself out.
“Not YET,” he continued. “Not yet. I’m determined to walk. I’m sure you’re going to see me again. I’m sure. It’s not over for me yet.”
There was also the question folks were wondering about: Did Tyra Banks visit? His answer was simple and direct.
“No, not yet,” he said. “She sent me a text that she wants to come and visit me, but no. Not yet.”
Well, if you know Miss J, you know one thing for sure: when he takes that first full strut again?
It’s going to be legendary.