Christie was born in 1954, in Monroe, Michigan. As her parents moved to California, she grew in Los Angeles.
At her younger ages, she had connections with Hollywood. Marjorie, her mother, was married to Donald Brinkley, famous script writer.
Donald had adopted Christie and Greg, her brother. Christie and her brother too had seen Donald as their father, instead of a step-father.
She had graduated from French School of Los Angeles in 1972, and then moved to Paris, to study art. As she had worked as a illustrator, in 1973, she was discovered by American photographer Errol Sawyer.
Sawyer saw Christie while she was walking on the street, with her dog and a basket at her arms. Sawyer had approached to her, and asked that if he could take her pictures. Then her career had started.
”I was basically a surfer girl from California. I never looked like a model,” she had said of herself.
She had a meeting with Eileen Ford, who was running the largest modelling agency in the world, and they had an agreement to do three major advertising that is covering on the whole United States.
She was on the cover of Glamour, and had a record contract with CoverGirl. Their contract was for 25 years. She had also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit from 1979 to 1981.
”When I started out, I remember very clearly a group of successful models saying, ‘You will be burned up and thrown away by the time you’re 30,” she said.
After her modelling career, she alsoo appeared on Hollywood productions too. She became, The girl in the red Ferrari,” in National Lampoon’s Vacation, in 1983.
She also appeared on the “Uptown Girl,” in Billy Joel’s music video. She is also the Gayle Gergich of Parks and Recreation.
When it was 2010, she had appeared on the Broadway stage, as Roxie Hart, in Chicago musical.
And most recently, we saw Christie in the TV show, The Masked Singer.
She had married with French artist Jean-François Allaux, in 1973. Their marriage ended in 1981, and they had no children together.
After her separation from Allaux, she had dated with Oliver Chandon de Brailles. They had met while she was promoting her calendar with Sports Illustrated.
Olivier had stated, “her simplicity is very important to me.” Christie responded as, “He doesn’t mean simpleminded!”
Their story ended tragically. Olivier was a race driver, and he was also skydiving. In 1983, he had lost his life when he had a crash in West Palm Beach, Florida.
She met with Billy Joel in 1983. After their relationship, he had written his hit, Uptown Girl, for Christie. They had married in 1985.
They had stayed as a married couple until 1994. They had a daughter together, Alexa Ray Joel.
”We had Alexa together and we knew that was going to bind us together for life so we wanted to make our divorce work,” said Christie.
”Of course as you’re going through it, you know, you can get a little bit raw, but you cannot find him saying a bad word about me or me saying a bad word about him, no matter what happens.”
She had met, and married with Richard Taubman, in 1994. They had married in Telluride Colarado. Before they had marreid, Christie had suffered a helicopter crash, in the April of 1994. They got stranded on top of a mountain for hours, with Taubman, and two other people.
”I don’t know what happened. It felt as if the mountain was sucking us into it,” Christie said.
Christie didn’t had a major injury, while Taubman had suffered from broken ribs, broken collarbone and a puntured lung.
”I had my surgery at Thanksgiving and I was dancing in my kitchen by New Years Eve and today I put on my long fins and explored the coral reefs propelled by my new hip,” she said in 2021.
After the couple had their son, Jack Paris Brinkley in 1995, they had divorced.
When it was 1996, she had started her relationship with Peter Halsey Cook, as they had met in 1979, while Christie was modelling.
They had married in Bridgehampton, New York.
The couple had their daughter together, Sailor Lee Brinkley. In 2018, Sailor had apperaed on the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
“I finally have what I always wanted – a husband who is so involved in the family, who cares about it with every ounce of his being, who is there for us,” Christie said.
They had an ugly divorce, as they fought hard for the custody of their daughter.
As it is reported, Cook had an affair with a teenager, in 2004, Diana Bianchi. Later on, he had hired Diana as his assistant, and had an affair for months. Cook had paid $300,000 to buy her silence.
“I wanted a little acknowledgment, a little attention, a little thank-you every now and then for my efforts, for the amount of time I took to care for her and my family, for the wealth I was building…,” Cook said.
”I din’t want this trial. It’s humiliating for all of us,” Christie said regarding their divorce.
Cook had started his relationship with Suzanne Shaw, after he divorced from Christie. Christie had warned Suzanne for Cook’s behaviour.
”Christie was wrongly vilified as being an embittered ex-wife. I’m deeply sorry for my part in causing Christie any unnecessary pain,” Suzanne had stated.
Today, she is 68-year-old. Christie has a brand of beauty products and eyeglasses. She is also in wine business, with the neme, Bellissima Prosecco.
She is a strong activist for animal rights and environment.
”I think that the key is good real estate—have a house on the ocean and you will see your kids! But in all seriousness, it is just spending time together and there is no replacement for that. It’s being there for them no matter what happens in their life,” she had stated.
”I lived like a gypsy my whole life and this wasn’t supposed to be my house for this long – it was a holding station – but then it turned into this amazing place to raise a family,” she had stated about her house in Bridgehampton, located in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.
”I like to exercise so I am always able to move and go with the flow, and I like to eat foods that are healthy so I am fueling my body and I must say, usually I am the one still going when people younger than me are fading!” she said to Hello Magazine.
She had stated that her look is natural, as she used non-surgical approaches, to prevent aging.
”I wondered if people would think I’m phony and fake But it’s better to be honest and say, ‘Yeah, this is what I do,” she had stated.
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