Christie Brinkley credits her athletic body shape for the successful modelling career she’s enjoyed.
The American beauty’s name is still synonymous with modelling, forty years after she first shot to fame.
Now her 15-year-old daughter Sailor is making her first foray into the modelling world, but the trend for ultra skinny models at first put the teen off.
“Which is funny because when I became a model, the reason I was successful was because I was not skinny like the other girls, either,” smiled Christie to intothegloss.com. “I could barely fit into the sample clothes because I was what they called back then ‘athletic.’
“That’s when everybody was starting to do the exercise thing. Jane Fonda was coming out with the workout tapes and Olivia Newton-John was singing, ‘Let’s get physical!’ I had that newer look – I was getting booked for things because you couldn’t see my bones through my skin.”
While the fashion industry is notorious for casting very slender models, Sailor points out that stars such as Jennifer Lawrence are leading the way for a healthier body shape and lifestyle.
“I was healthy,” Christie added. “I was a surfer girl from Malibu. I went skiing and I liked being active and doing things. I just had that California look – my very first job I ever did they handed me a bathing suit and I was like, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’ And then I had a couple jobs with clothes.”
During her career, spanning more than four decades, 60-year-old Christie shot campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion. She also graced the cover of Vogue, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Despite her celebrated career, Christie never believed that she was good enough.
“I have to say, I never had a feeling that I was a successful model. I was afraid before every job, I was nervous, and I would literally feel a little bit sick with the stress of having to do it. I never planned to be a model at all,” she revealed.
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