In the bold and colorful 1980s, Christie Brinkley had the look everyone wanted.
But behind the beautiful front and all the glamour, Christie has gone through a lot of drama in her life. The supermodel has suffered terrible losses, and once, she almost died in a helicopter crash.
So what is the iconic model up to nowadays?
It’s hard to believe it – but as a 68-year-old, she’s as gorgeous as ever…
Christie Lee Brinkley was born in Monroe, Michigan, on February 2, 1954. Together with her family, she later moved to California, and Christie grew up in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Early in life, Christie got connections to the entertainment industry and Hollywood. Her mother, Marjorie, married a high-profile figure in the television industry: writer Donald Brinkley. Donald wrote over 400 teleplays but was most famous for writing and producing popular shows like Medical Center and Trapper John M.D.
Donald would later legally adopt Christie and her brother Greg. They referred to him as their father and not step-father.
After graduating from the French School of Los Angeles in 1972, Christie moved to Europe to study art in Paris and ”to be so bohemian.” She worked as an apprentice illustrator for a couple of years and seemed to have settled down.
But the move to Paris would change her life forever ¨when American photographer Errol Sawyer discovered the blonde beauty in 1973. Sawyer spotted Christie walking down the street, carrying her dog in a basket on the way to call a veterinarian. The photographer asked if he could take some modeling pictures of her, which became the start of a long and successful career as a model.
But Christie could never imagine that her face would end up on thousands of magazine covers worldwide.
”I was basically a surfer girl from California. I never looked like a model,” she told New York Magazine in 2008.
Thanks to Errol Sawyer, Christie came in contact with other modeling agencies. Eventually, she had a lunch meeting with Eileen Ford, who ran one of the largest modeling agencies in the world. After that, Christie signed a deal to do three major national advertising campaigns across the U.S.
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