Tyra Banks to Adopt a Child  12/8/06

Retired model Tyra Banks is planning to fulfill a lifelong ambition by adopting a child.

The star claims she hasn't just jumped on the celebrity adoption bandwagon to copy Madonna and Angelina Jolie, but insists she has harbored a desire to raise a child since she was young.

Banks says, "I've wanted to adopt since I was eight, nine years old, before it was hip.

"I really do think I will. I don't have to have a child come from my womb to have a connection.

"Children that are already born are beautiful to me. I can definitely be a mother to them."