TEEN KUTZ

where I actually saw the guy
[surgeon] with his hand inside
the person’s cheek. I just don’t
think I would be brave enough
for that,” she told a TV reporter.
Last fall, she told the TV
show Extra she’s not yet ready
to do it and denies that she’s
seen a surgeon already. “I
haven't yet. I would consider it.
But I don't really want to do
that. Instead, I want to focus on
just doing good things, trying to
make the world a more beautiful
place…instead of my neck a
more beautiful place.”
But there’s much speculation
among those who’ve compared
photos of a youthful,
beach-friendly Brinkley back in
the ’80s to today’s fresh-faced,
vital appearance that shows little
of the detrimental and telltale
signs of aging. Some
wonder if she’s gone
under the knife gradually
over the years,
taking care to make
minimal changes
with small procedures
to avoid the
drastic “remade”
look.
It’s the “aging
with youth” look
that’s keeping
her active in
a reborn
modeling
c a r e e r .
Brinkley,
a l o n g
Elle Macpherson
Tyra Banks
with other celebrities over 50
such as Susan Sarandon, Diane
Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jane
Seymour, and Sofia Loren, has
been enjoying ramped-up modeling
calls, answering the trend
of the major beauty houses
wanting to sell their “aging with
grace” campaigns to millions of
boomers with money who are
marking 55-plus birthdays.
For Cover Girl, one of the
brands that thrust her into superstardom
as the face of
beauty in the U.S., Brinkley
signed on in 2005 to represent
their Advanced Radiance Age
Defying Liquid makeup, which
plays off the tagline “Look as
young as you feel.”
She appears today the picture
of a youthful, vital mom—
surfing with her kids this
summer off Montauk's ocean
beaches and participating in
area charity events with smiles
and enthusiasm for every camera.
“When I was 13, I was a
surfer girl in Malibu, putting my
phonograph needle over and
over on the old Beach Boy
songs,” she said. “I’m dusting
off my board.”
Brinkley grew
up in Malibu,
Calif., and was in
Paris afer high
school when
she was discovered
by an
A m e r i c a n
photographer.
She
signed
a 20-
year contract with Cover Girl in
1976 and immediately became a
top sought-afer name for runways
and fashion shoots. She
appeared on the cover of the
Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition
in 1979 and was asked back
twice aferward—a first for that
magazine.
She branched into television,
joining CNN in 1992, where
she hosted her own half-hour
show, Living in the ’90s with
Christe Brinkley.
In 1997, she hosted one of
the most profitable infomercials
ever, for Total Gym. She’s an author
and photographer and participated
as ring photographer in
major boxing events for Don
King. As a designer, she has a
line of eyewear and one of toddler
toys.
In recent years, she’s been
busy with her three children,
modeling, and working at various
charitable causes.
But the supermodel seems
to have escaped the ravages of
time that most women of her
age exhibit, however slight. A
website, Make Me Heal, claims
that there must have been some
surgical help with that youthful
appearance: “Her eyes appear
very bright and refreshed, without
any of the sagging skin or
wrinkles that usually accompany
a woman in her 50s. In the past,
Christie may have had a blepharoplasty
(eyelid surgery) on
her upper eyelids to help elimi-
Heidi Klum
48 IMAGE Fall 2008