OK! Exclusive: Tyra Banks: "I Love Britney!"

After reports surfaced online that Tyra Banks had been overheard at an event telling someone that Britney Spears should "just go ahead and kill herself," the supermodel turned TV personality come out in her own defense.

"These alleged statements are completely false," Tyra said Thursday morning. "Britney is a friend and we correspond with each other."

And when OK! spoke to Tyra, she had nothing but kind words for the pop star. "I love Britney to death," the 33-year-old beauty says in an exclusive OK! interview. "I’ve known her for a while." Tyra also says she sympathizes with Brit's plight in the media spotlight: "No matter where she goes people are going to follow her," she explains. "I hate that she has to deal with that."

Of course, this scandal all comes only days after Tyra was inadvertently caught up in another mini-scandal after fellow one-time supermodel Janice Dickinson called the Top Model host "fat" during an appearance on NBC's Today Show.