Christie Brinkley Talks Getting ‘Older’ and Posing for ‘Sports Illustrated’ at 70
Christie Brinkley recently posed for Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue at 70 years old.
The star opened up about the opportunity and getting “older.”
“We can’t let the numbers define us,” she said.
Christie Brinkley has graced many magazine covers in her decades-long career as a supermodel—and she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. The star, who stepped into her “sensational 70s” earlier this year, recently posed for yet another Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover in honor of the magazine’s 60th anniversary.
On Tuesday, Brinkley sat down to discuss the experience on TODAY With Hoda & Jenna. She also opened up about aging and turning 70, offering a body-positive message and words of wisdom while chatting with hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.
“Sports Illustrated has really turned into the most amazing magazine,” Brinkley said. “It’s always been great and amazing, but to be there, this time, having just turned 70...and you know, 70 is one of those birthday milestones, where you look back and you look forward and you really sum everything up and you get all emotional and I felt like, I’m 70 and they’ve asked me to come be on another cover with them...and yes I was covered from my wrist to my ankles,” Brinkley joked, “But still, they’re inclusive and I know what that means, to start to feel invisible, like you don’t have the same thing happening as you get older...It’s really nice to be included.”
In a discussion about aging, Kotb recited part of a poem Brinkley penned in an Instagram photo posted following the star’s 70th birthday. “Looking in the mirror on my 70th Birthday and what do I see, I’m finally happy with the person looking back at me. I’m no longer critical and demanding, now I’m grateful and understanding,” Kotb read, asking Brinkley what she meant by the poem.
“I am always happy, but when I was younger, I was probably my harshest critic,” she explained. “And I think I was trying to live up to expectations of what they would think. For instance, after I did Sports Illustrated, I never felt comfortable on the beach again in a bathing suit because Sports Illustrated makes you look so good,” she continued.
“They put you in the bathing suit that they’ve chosen out of like a thousand bathing suits because it looks best on you. They put you in the best light, you take your very best angle and you twist and I would have to walk down the beach like, sucking it in, to try to look halfway decent. Then when I turned 70, I was like, ‘Who am I trying to live up to? Whose expectations? It’s my life.’”
In another segment, Brinkley added that “there’s nothing to fear” when it comes to aging and turning 70.
“It really is an amazing time, because you kind of don’t really care what people think about you—you just have fun,” she said. “I’m just enjoying it.” Brinkley spoke again about feeling self-conscious when she was younger, following her first Sports Illustrated cover. “That’s something that goes by the wayside when you turn 70,” she explained. “It’s like, ‘Why am I trying to please everybody?’ It’s impossible.”
Kotb then spoke about the “invisible” feeling that comes with turning a “certain age,” to which Brinkley agreed. “Absolutely. It’s true. You notice that things start to change. And you do start to slightly disappear. And I think that it’s up to us and our generation to change that. A lot of women my age are taking on new jobs, new careers, having passionate careers,” she explained. “And I think that also changes the perception of the number.”
But at the end of the day, the star believes in how we’re feeling now versus the number of trips we’ve taken around the sun. “We can’t let the numbers define us. And our generation is definitely changing that.”
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