Veteran model Christie Brinkley stumbled upon a career in the beauty business while trying to find a vet for her sick pet. The ageless beauty, who is considered a modelling icon, was living as an artist in Paris when her dog Tempete fell ill and she frantically tried to find someone who could care for her.
Christie tells Women's Wear Daily, she wandered into a telephone office to ask for information about local vets and she was mistaken for a professional model.
"This guy goes, 'I was waiting for you to come back. I'm a photographer and I've got my first big job. I was thinking you have the look that they described. Will you do it?'" she explains. "It was thanks to my puppy that I thought, 'Let me just see what it's like and do one little thing'."
Christie is still working as a model today, at the age of 63, and recently shot a Sports Illustrated spread with her daughters, Sailor and Alexa Ray Joel. She credits her longevity in the business to eating right, exercise and a healthy attitude.
"An attitude of gratitude is the formula for a happy life and I truly believe that happiness contributes to your wellbeing and to your health," she smiles.
And Christie admits she's thrilled at outliving predictions that she would be washed up by 30, adding, "In the olden days, they used to say a model would be chewed up and spit out by the time she was 30 and that you, just like an athlete, have your years when you're going to have your work and you need to exploit that moment.
"It's wonderful that my industry is embracing all forms of diversity in beauty and that is now also including breaking that ageism barrier that we have allowed women in America to be defined by. They've been almost like prisoners of these rules that are supposed to apply to women over 30. It's so great to see that changing as well."
