Model Niki Taylor stepped out at the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards last week, making her first public appearance since an April 29 car crash nearly claimed her life. And while the beauty looked every bit the glamorous star, she admits to suffering from frequent pain and nightmares.
Niki, who shot to stardom on the cover of fashion magazines and has appeared in popular adverts for Cover Girl and Liz Claiborne, says she faces a long road to recovery. She has already undergone nearly 40 surgical procedures, and will likely need back surgery to fix a curvature of the spine caused by two months spent immobile in bed following the accident.
“It could be a year before I even feel close to normal,” Niki tells US Weekly. “I sometimes feel like a 26-year-old in the body of an old woman.”
Niki was a passenger in a Nissan Maxima that crashed into an electricity pylon in Georgia early on a Sunday morning in April. Although she suffered no facial lacerations, she sustained serious liver damage and extensive internal injuries.
“I now have scars all over my stomach. It looks like I have a 16-pack,” says Niki, who was at the VH1 awards to presented Pearl Harbor star Josh Hartnett with the Best Newcomer Award last Friday. Doctors say the scars will never fade.
Despite the trauma she suffered, Niki says the accident has not swayed her religious devotion. “I definitely think the big man upstairs is saying, ‘You’ve gotta live. It is not your time yet’,” said the born-again Christian.
“When I look in the mirror, I see a survivor. I see a fragile but strong person. And I love her,” she said.
On her official website, Niki told fans that she is recovering at home and unsure when she may return to work. Her publicist Lou Taylor – no relation – says it will be some time before the beauty commits to any projects.
The famed model, mother of six-year-old twins Jake and Hunter, was visiting friends in Atlanta and planned to return home to Florida to begin acting lessons at the time of the crash. While Niki was in hospital, the twin boys stayed with their father, Niki’s ex-husband Matt Martinez. The couple had briefly reconciled last year, but split at Christmas time.
Police do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the accident. Driver James Renegar, 27, an old friend of Niki’s, told police he lost control of the vehicle after looking down to answer his ringing mobile phone. He and passenger John Lack, 30, were treated in hospital but released the same day.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
