CHRISTIE BRINKLEY 'LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE'

IN A NEW MEMOIR,THE SUPERMODEL DETAILS HERROLLER-COASTER LIFE, HER EPICROMANCE WITH BILLY JOELAND WHY AT 71 SHE FEELS'THE BEST IS YET TO COME'

- LIZ MCNEIL

The Beauty of Serendipity

"I became a model by accident," says Christie (at her Hamptons home in 2023). "I thought, I'll do a few jobs, and that'll be it'—and the jobs kept coming."

Christie Brinkley wasn’t sure what her three children might say when they read her new memoir Uptown Girl. Then she heard from her daughter Alexa Ray Joel. “I said, ‘Mom, you really spilled the tea,” recalls Alexa Ray, 39. “What do you mean, tea?” Brinkley asked. “What kind of tea?” As Alexa Ray explained with a laugh, “Mom, it means the revealing stuff—that was very emotional.”

1. Writing about her biological father's abuse "wasn't easy," says Christie (ca. 1958). "I remember the belt and his threats to send me to an orphanage. I get instantly choked up, but it needed to be said." 2. Her 1968 yearbook photo from the Los Angeles Lycée Français. "I wanted to go for the beautiful language and the beret," she says. "I was very artsy." 3. Before moving to Paris in 1973, she called friends to say goodbye. 4. In the mid-'70s in Paris, where she worked as an illustrator and began modeling.

Good Vibes "I'm very anxious for Billy to read the book," she says. "Alexa described it to him, and he's like, 'Sounds good. No problem.""

Raw & Real "My publisher asked, 'Is there anything to write that we don't already know?' and I said, 'Oh yes, tons.""