Christie Brinkley had the appearance that everyone desired in the flamboyant and vibrant 1980s.
Christie has had a great deal of drama in her life, despite her stunning exterior and all the glitz. The supermodel has had horrific losses and once nearly lost her life in a helicopter accident.
What is the famous model doing these days?
It’s unbelievable, yet she’s still stunning at 68 years old.
A Californian surfer chick
On February 2, 1954, Christie Lee Brinkley was born in Monroe, Michigan. She eventually relocated to California with her family, and Christie grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhoods.
Christie was introduced to Hollywood and the entertainment world at a young age. Her mother, Marjorie, wed writer Donald Brinkley, a well-known personality in the television industry. Donald was most known for writing and producing hit series like Medical Center and Trapper John M.D., but he also wrote over 400 teleplays.
Christie and her brother Greg would subsequently be formally adopted by Donald. Instead of calling him their stepfather, they called him their father.
Christie traveled to Europe to study art in Paris and “to be so bohemian” after graduating from the French School of Los Angeles in 1972. She appeared to have settled down after working as an apprentice illustrator for a few years.
However, when American photographer Errol Sawyer saw the blonde beauty in 1973, the relocation to Paris would permanently alter her life. On her way to call a vet, Sawyer noticed Christie strolling down the street with her puppy in a basket. A lengthy and prosperous modeling career began when the photographer requested if he may shoot some modeling photos of her.
Christie, however, had no idea that her image would appear on thousands of magazine covers throughout the globe.
I was essentially a California surfer girl. She said to New York Magazine in 2008, “I never looked like a model.”
Getting a 25-year deal
Christie was able to connect with other modeling agencies through Errol Sawyer. She eventually met with Eileen Ford, the head of one of the biggest modeling agencies in the world, for lunch. Christie then agreed to participate in three significant national advertising efforts around the United States.
Many jobs came after. The young model got a record-breaking deal with the cosmetic brand CoverGirl and was featured on the cover of Glamour magazine.
It was one of the longest model contracts ever written, with a 25-year duration. Christie starred on the cover of the renowned Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from 1979 to 1981, marking the first time the same model featured on the cover for three consecutive years.
“I vividly recall a group of successful models telling me when I first started out, ‘You will be burned up and thrown away by the time you’re 30.'” Christie said in an interview with People in 2011.
The epitome of American beauty, Christie, also had two calendars created for her by Sports Illustrated. In the early 1980s, her face was pretty much everywhere, and we scarcely need to say it.
She actually came to represent the decade as a whole. According to New York Magazine, Brinkley embodied “a kind of aggressively innocent American sunniness” and her appearance typified the Reagan Cold War era.
The young woman driving the red Ferrari
Christie decided to pursue acting and set for Hollywood after making a name for herself as a model. She portrayed “The girl in the red Ferrari” opposite Chevy Chase in the 1983 film National Lampoon’s Vacation, which was her debut acting performance.In 1997, she returned to her role as the blonde beauty with the red Ferrari in another Vacation film.
Christie has also made numerous TV appearances and appeared in numerous music videos, the most well-known of which was likely Billy Joel’s classic “Uptown Girl” music video.
She is also well-known for being Gayle Gergich, the wife of Garry Gergich, a park department employee who appeared on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation.
Christie made her Broadway stage debut in 2010 as Roxie Hart in the enduring classic Chicago, marking yet another daring move.The famous model most recently participated in the popular show The Masked Singer as a competitor.
Christie Brinkley’s first husband
You might not seek Christie for dating advice after going through four divorces.
However, there are a lot of fascinating information about her ex-husbands and her experiences that would be worth discussing.
As she has said before, Christie’s goal in the 1970s was to leave the United States and live a free-spirited life in Paris. Possibly the most potent representation of this? her union with Jean-François Allaux, a French artist. Despite being married from 1973 till 1981, the pair did not have any children together.
A tragic tale of love
Following the divorce, Christie began dating Oliver Chandon de Brailles, another Frenchman. Oliver was the heir of the Moët-Chandon Champagne fortune, thus he was not from the same milieu as Christie’s ex-husband.
In 1982, Christie marketed her calendar for Sports Illustrated at the renowned Studio 54 in New York, where the couple first met.
Olivier made remarks about the relationship at the time, telling the media that while he appreciated his girlfriend’s beauty, “her simplicity is very important to me.” Christie, however, felt compelled to step in and clarify: “He doesn’t mean simpleminded!”
However, their romance would end tragically. After a terrible vehicle accident on a racetrack in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1983, race driver and skydiver Oliver Chandon de Brailles passed away.
On the day of Oliver’s death, Christie and Oliver—who are frequently spotted together and pursued by photographers—were set to meet. An hour prior to the deadly collision, she had called him to set up their meeting in Palm Beach. However, she decided to remain in California after learning of the unfortunate incident.
Getting married to Billy Joel
In 1983, singer-songwriter Billy Joel and superstar model Christie met in the Caribbean island of St. Barts. He was her senior by five years.
The Grammy-winning musician reportedly created the classic song “Uptown Girl” for Christie after they fell deeply in love. The famous couple married in front of 200 guests aboard a yacht on the Hudson River two years later.
In addition to Christie’s immediate family, other well-known guests who attended the wedding included Paul Simon, an artist, and members of the band Stray Cats.
The two celebrities had a daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, born on December 29, 1985, and remained together until 1994. For Billy Joel, one of his favorite musicians, Ray Charles, Alexa’s middle name is a blink.
The uptown girl and the piano man’s marriage is still famous, and they are still close friends even though Christie and Billy Joel parted ways.
“We wanted to make our divorce work because we knew that having Alexa together would keep us together forever,” Christie stated on The Wendy Williams Show.
“Of course, you can get a little raw during it, but no matter what, you can’t find him saying something negative about me or me saying something negative about him.”
Crash of a helicopter
Christie met real estate entrepreneur Richard Taubman in 1994, when she was still married to Billy Joel. Christie was married at the time, but he still asked her to marry him.
The pair got married in Telluride, Colorado, in December 1994. At 12,000 feet, the pair exchanged vows in ski boots in front of 100 guests.
The newlyweds then skied into the sunset after descending the mountain.
For the supermodel, the venue held great meaning. She survived a helicopter crash five miles north of the wedding location just months before she and Taubman were married. The terrifying event happened in April 1994 while on a heli-ski excursion. After their helicopter crashed, Christie, Taubman, and two other people were left stranded on the mountaintop for hours.
“I’m not sure what took place. In 1994, Christie told Entertainment Tonight, “It was like the mountain was suckling us into it.”
Christie had minor injuries at the time of the collision, according to the media. Taubman sustained a punctured lung, a shattered clavicle, and broken ribs.
Christe endured the trauma and scars for a long time. She eventually underwent a total hip replacement in 2021 after years of hip pain brought on by the collision. Thankfully, the procedure went well.
“I was dancing in my kitchen on New Year’s Eve after having surgery at Thanksgiving, and today I put on my long fins and explored the coral reefs propelled by my new hip,” she posted on Instagram.
previous marriage
After just one year, Christie and Taubman’s marriage was over. Shortly after the birth of their son, Jack Paris Brinkley, on June 2, 1995, they got divorced.
Christie met architect Peter Halsey Cook while modeling in 1979, and the two reconnected in 1996. Following their reintroduction, they were married in a Bridgehampton, New York, ranch. Billy Joel, Christie’s ex-husband, was one of the attendees.
Together, Christe and Peter Cook had a single child. Born in 1998, their daughter Sailor Lee Brinkley Cook has continued her mother’s legacy.
Sailor has been featured in Teen Vogue and the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as a model.
Christie said she had finally found the man of her dreams after three disastrous marriages.
Christie declared, “A husband who is so involved in the family, who cares about it with all of his being, who is there for us, is what I finally have what I always wanted.”
However, her marriage to Peter Cook ended in a contentious divorce and custody dispute. The pair announced that they were divorcing in 2006.
Watched by the New York tabloids and TV news, the divorce culminated in a dramatic battle in the Long Island courthouse.
Many details surfaced. For instance, it was discovered that Cook had an affair with a teenager. Cook met Diana Bianchi in 2004 while shopping for presents for his children at a nearby toy store. Cook made a move on Diana, who had just graduated from high school.
They started dating for several months after he hired her to work as an assistant at his company. Christie’s husband bought her numerous pricey presents and paid his 18-year-old helper $300,000 to remain silent.
Christie learned of it when she was approached by Bianchi’s police officer stepfather. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cook “begged for forgiveness,” but the mother of three and fashion model was “in payback mode.”
Christie and Cook settled their divorce in 2008. Cook discussed his thoughts on the marriage in an interview with Barbara Walters just months before it was made public.
In essence, he held Christie accountable.
Every now and then, he added, “I wanted a little recognition, a little attention, a little thank-you for my efforts, for the time I spent taking care of her and my family, for the wealth I was building.”
Christie was granted complete custody of the children and the couple’s assets as per the terms of the divorce settlement. Cook received $2.1 million in compensation as well as “parenting time.”
“This trial was not what I wanted.” We’re all humiliated by it,” Christie remarked.
Cook began dating Suzanne Shaw, another stunning woman, after splitting from Christie. Christie, however, cautioned her of her ex-husband’s disposition. But Suzanne decided to disregard it.
Although she married Cook, she would later come to regret not listening since, in her own words, Suzanne went through much of the same things Christie did.
It was incorrect to portray Christie as an angry ex-wife. I sincerely apologize for contributing to Christie’s needless suffering,” Suzanne wrote.
Today’s Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley, 68, still has a lot on her plate after more than thirty years in the business. The once blond bombshell model is now an entrepreneur, nevertheless.
She sells eyeglasses and cosmetics under her own brand. She also sells wine under the Bellissima Prosecco brand, which is an organic sparkling wine label.
Christie is also a vocal supporter of the environment and animal welfare. She has been actively involved in campaigns against rhino poaching and elephant poaching, and she has voiced her opposition to nuclear weapons and power plants at the UN.
Christie is a vocal supporter of the environment, animal rights, and human rights. She has been actively involved in campaigns against rhino poaching and elephant poaching, and she has voiced her opposition to nuclear weapons and power plants at the UN.
The Los Angeles native has been a vegetarian since she was thirteen, and she claims that she was able to persuade all of her kids to give up meat. Regarding her kids, Christie claims to have a close relationship with both of her daughters and her sons.
How does she manage to keep a positive relationship with the children?
“I believe that the secret is good real estate—you will see your children if you own a home on the ocean! In all honesty, though, there is no substitute for simply spending time with one another. It’s supporting them through everything life throws at them,” she explains.
Christie Brinkley’s home
Christie lives on the South Shore of Long Island, New York, in Bridgehampton, which is in Suffolk County. She paid $3.2 million for her home 23 years ago. The opulent, gated estate on 20 acres features several living spaces, a classic kitchen, five bathrooms, and four bedrooms.
“I’ve always been a vagrant, and this wasn’t meant to be my home for this long—it was a holding station—but it became this wonderful place to raise a family,” she adds.
The star of National Lampoon’s Vacation frequently posts photos of her house, the lovely surroundings, and her children visiting.
Plastic surgery
She is a highly active 68-year-old, as you might expect.
I want to consume good meals to feed my body and exercise so that I can always move and go with the flow. I must admit that I am typically the one that is still going when others my age are fading!In an interview with Hello Magazine, she stated.
Christie once again dazzled us in 2021 only a few days before her 67th birthday by sharing a photo of herself. Her toned legs and stomach looked remarkably fit.
“I’m celebrating my 17th birthday!In her caption, she made a joke.
It was time again on February 2, 2022, her 68th birthday.
She quipped that she was “about to turn 50 for the 18th time” and shared a selfie in which she appeared absurdly fit for a 68-year-old.
Her youthful appearance isn’t entirely natural, though. Christie has acknowledged that she has tried non-surgical anti-aging techniques and received some assistance over the years. The injectable Xeomin, which is sometimes referred to as a Botox substitute, is one of her cosmetic procedures.
It’s better to be honest and say, ‘Yeah, this is what I do,’ she remarked, after wondering if others would think I’m fake and phony.
While some people age better than others, everyone ages. Having saying that, Christie maintained a more natural appearance for any work she did! And she still looks stunning in my opinion! Do you not agree?
