Miss J Alexander Battling Back and ‘Getting Stronger’ After Stroke

Miss J Alexander, a fashion industry insider and runway coach on America’s Next Top Model, revealed on a new Netflix docuseries he is confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.

“I taught models how to walk and now I can’t walk,” Miss J said on Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.

Now, there is a positive update on his recovery.

Jay Manuel, another original member of the ANTM cast, shared in a new interview Miss J has improved since the three-part docuseries was filmed.

“Well, J. is getting stronger every day,” Manuel told Entertainment Tonight. “He does physical therapy every day. He can get out of that chair, that’s what people don’t know. At the time of the documentary, he couldn’t.”

“He can take steps and look, if anyone is [going to] walk again, it’s Miss J,” Manuel added.

Popularly referred to as the “Queen of the Catwalk,” Miss J was a go-to runway coach whose early students included Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell.

When she created ANTM, Banks enlisted Miss J to teach the show’s aspiring models how to work the runway.

But on Dec. 27, 2022, the catwalk queen suffered a devastating health setback.

“I had a stroke. I woke up, I didn’t know where I was, other than in the hospital,” he shared.

The New York native, born Alexander Jenkins, said he spent five weeks in a coma.

“I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t talk. And I thought to myself, what was I going to do?” he shared in the docuseries. “It was emotional. I cried.”

His former co-workers, ANTM creative director Jay Manuel and fashion photographer Nigel Barker, visited him in the hospital.

“When he saw me, he was happy to see me and the two of us cried together. I held him,” Barker shared.

Added Manuel, “I could feel how upset he was for sure. I can only imagine where he was in his mind.”

In an emotional moment on the docuseries, Manuel and Barker gathered around Miss J for a selfie.

“I’m determined to walk. I’m sure you’re gonna see me again, I’m sure. It’s not over for me yet,” the runway icon said with confidence.

He also revealed Banks had not yet come to visit him, even though she said on the docuseries they had been friends since she was a teenager.

“She just sent me a text, that she wants to come and visit me. But um, no, not yet,” Miss J said after being asked if Banks had seen him since the stroke.

Miss J, Barker and Manuel also served as judges on the show and all three were fired after cycle 18.

Banks said network management demanded changes to the show as the ratings fell, and the three were casualties. The supermodel later got cut too, and was pushed out as host.

The series ended in 2018 after 24 cycles. At the time, the main cast was made up of Ashley Graham, Drew Elliott, Law Roach, and Stacey McKenzie.

The Netflix docuseries ended with Banks saying she left the U.S. and moved to Australia.

She revealed she hopes to bring ANTM back for cycle 25, despite the shocking revelations from former contestants saying they were mistreated on the show, and humiliated by Banks and former judge Janice Dickinson.