- - Where Is Miss J from “America’s Next Top Model” Now? All About His Life Since Departing the Show

Caroline BlairFebruary 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM

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J. Alexander on the set of America's Next Top Model ; Miss J in Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.

Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive/Getty ; Courtesy of Netflix

Miss J served as the runway coach on America's Next Top Model from its first cycle until cycle 19

After leaving the show in 2012, he continued coaching models on the international versions of the show

Miss J suffered a health setback in 2022 after he had a stroke and was in a coma for five weeks

J. Alexander Jenkins was belovedly known as "Miss J" during his time on America's Next Top Model.

The runway coach got involved with the modeling competition show from the very first "cycle" in 2003. Tyra Banks, who created and hosted the series, invited Miss J to participate after he helped her strut the runway when she was just a teenager.

From there, Miss J continued serving as the main runway coach and later one of the judges until he was let go in 2012. Afterward, Miss J continued appearing on international versions of America's Next Top Model and helped other models with their walk.

However, Miss J's career came to a halt in December 2022 when he had a stroke. He was in a coma for five weeks and woke up unable to walk or talk. Miss J has since regained his speech but is still relearning how to walk, as of February 2026.

The television personality spoke about his time on America's Next Top Model, his health and relationship with his former colleagues in the three-part Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, which premiered on Feb. 16.

Here's everything to know about where Miss J is now.

Who is Miss J?

J. Alexander and Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model.

Michael Yarish/CBS Photo Archive/Getty

Miss J, who was raised in New York City, got his start in the modeling business when he befriended Elite Model Management president Monique Pillard, and she signed him to her agency.

However, his life changed when he discovered a knack for teaching other models how to walk on a runway with confidence. He met Banks backstage at a show when she was 16 years old, and he started giving her lessons.

"I was just Alexander — Queen of the Catwalk," he recalled in Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, while later adding, "I came out of my mother's stomach with high heels."

When Banks began pitching the idea for America's Next Top Model in the early 2000s, Miss J was "the first person I called," she recalled in the Netflix doc. "He was just this godfather, mother, diva, extraordinaire," Banks continued. "He was the real deal."

Miss J served as the runway coach from the very beginning and was made a judge in cycle 5. He and fellow judge Jay Manuel lovingly became known as "The Jays." Photographer Nigel Barker rounded out the crew in the second cycle.

"I taught a girl how to walk with confidence," Miss J said in the doc. "When that clicks, it's like, 'Woah. Oh my god, you're really, really quite beautiful.' "

He appeared on every cycle until 19 when he, along with Manuel and Barker, were let go as part of a major revamp.

As for his personal life, Miss J revealed in 2009 that he was a father to a then-7-year-old son named Boris. He has kept Boris' life private but wrote in his book Follow the Model that fatherhood "enriched my life beyond imagination," per Extra.

What has Miss J said about his experience on America’s Next Top Model?

J. Alexander drills the girls on their runway walk on America's Next Top Model.

Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive via Getty

In the years since he left America's Next Top Model, Miss J has looked back fondly on those experiences, while also acknowledging the criticism the show has received due to its focus on harsh commentary and inclusion of controversial challenges.

“I look back on that time as me, doing me, being me,” he told The Guardian in 2022. “Feeling fierce and fabulous. Being creative. I created my wardrobe."

However, Miss J also added, "I think about the girls, what they went through and how they were treated. I look at the backlash and I do wonder if we knew what we were putting them through.”

In regards to some of the controversial photoshoots — from contestants wearing makeup to appear as another race to models pretending to be shot to death in alleys — he encouraged people to remember that the show took place many years ago.

"I can’t speak on the photoshoots because I wasn’t on [them]," he told the publication. “Did we mean harm? No. I didn’t understand it, why [the blackface] photoshoot happened. Was the idea to make them feel what it’s liked to be mixed? I would have asked them what the takeaway was. But it wouldn’t fly right now.”

As for other aspects of the show — like the intense scrutiny on the models' bodies and dramatic makeovers — Miss J suggested that many of the contestants had seen the show as the years went on and had to have some expectation of what would happen.

"They knew what they were getting into. They knew we were gonna chop that s--t [their hair] off! Why talk s--t about it online?” he said.

In addition, Miss J also credited the show with changing the fashion world and including different types of people in the modeling world.

"The fashion world has changed,” he said. “Plus-size models on the catwalk; dark-skinned models are totally taking over. Black Lives Matter has meant everyone wants a Black girl in their campaign. There’s a lot of trans models – and no-one knows. Some are out, some aren’t.”

In the Netflix docuseries, Miss J said the early days of the show were a "fairytale."

Are Miss J and Tyra Banks still friends?

Tyra Banks and J. Alexander attend the "America's Next Top Model" Cycle 22 Premiere Party on July 28, 2015 in West Hollywood, California.

Miss J and Banks were friends for years before she asked him to serve as the runway walking coach and later judge on America's Next Top Model. During their time together, they remained close friends.

However, Miss J and Banks' relationship became complicated in 2012 when she was told that the show was going in a more "mature" direction and she needed to "let go" of "three of my hearts:" Miss J, Manuel and Barker.

"For my birthday, Tyra sent me flowers," he recalled in the doc. "I said, 'Oh how sweet!' There was a note, 'Happy birthday, love, Tyra.' And then I was fired five days later."

While neither Miss J nor Banks spoke specifically about their present-day relationship in the documentary, they still follow each other on Instagram and seem to occasionally communicate.

After Miss J had his stroke in 2022, he got emotional when Barker and Manuel visited him in the hospital. When asked if Banks visited him or saw him since the health complications, he said that she had not.

"No, not yet," Miss J said. "She just sent me a text she wants to come and visit me, but no not yet."

Where is Miss J now?

Miss J in Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.

Courtesy of Netflix

After leaving America's Next Top Model, Miss J appeared on the international versions of the show and taught at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design for 15 years.

On Dec. 27, 2022, Miss J had a stroke and spent five weeks in a coma. He had to relearn how to speak, and as of February 2026, he is still unable to walk.

"I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t talk, and I thought to myself, 'What was I going to do?' And that I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t speak. It was emotional. I cried. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried," he emotionally shared in the documentary.

During his year-and-a-half in the hospital, Miss J received a heartwarming visit from Manuel and Barker.

"I didn’t even know that he wanted me to see him in that way," Barker recalled. "I was going to go see him and that was just such a terrible shock and really upsetting and horrifying and scary. When he saw me, he was happy to see me, and the two of us cried, and I held him."

Meanwhile, Miss J also recalled the emotional moment and said, "I thought back to how we used to do shows together. I cried because I just miss them so much."

In the final moments of the doc, Miss J reunited with Barker and Manuel and they all teared up over their past and his health ordeal. They held each other, cried and finally smiled while taking a selfie.

"I miss being the queen of the runway, the catwalks, of course," Miss J said in a confessional. "I'm the person who taught models how to walk ... and now I can’t walk — not yet, 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."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”