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Speaker 1: And this day, as I was rushing in to call

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Speaker 1: my vet, I literally smashed right into Eryl Sawyer, the

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Speaker 1: photographer who had seen me there before and had a

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Speaker 1: client who was looking for California sporty, California type girl.

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Speaker 1: And so that's how it happened.

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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, I'm Kitty Kuric, And this is next question.

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Speaker 2: Of course, everyone knows who Christy Brinkley is, right, Sports Illustrated,

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Speaker 2: swimsuit model multiple times, Billy Joel's uptown girl. But there's

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Speaker 2: so many things that you probably don't know about Christy Brinkley,

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Speaker 2: Like she had a very abusive biological father until Don

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Speaker 2: Brinkley came to the rescue and loved her unconditionally. That

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Speaker 2: she's had a number of love affairs, one that ended

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Speaker 2: in tragedy, to where the guys were just awful people.

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Speaker 2: It turns out anyway, she's got quite a life story.

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Speaker 2: She's also incredibly talented. She's a great artist. She can sing,

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Speaker 2: she speaks fluent French. She was roxy Heart in Chicago

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Speaker 2: on Broadway. I mean, who just is able to do that?

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Speaker 2: I think after you hear this conversation with Christy Brinkley,

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Speaker 2: you're going to fall in love with her. I'm kind

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Speaker 2: of obsessed with her myself, so much so that I

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Speaker 2: spent an hour and twenty five minutes talking with her.

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Speaker 2: Don't worry, everybody, before you freak out. We did edit

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Speaker 2: it down, but here's my conversation with the one and

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Speaker 2: only Christy Brinkley about her new memoir Uptown Girl. Okay,

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Speaker 2: I want to get started, because I know you've got

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Speaker 2: a million things going on. Christy. First of all, thank

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Speaker 2: you for doing this. I'm very excited to talk to you.

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Speaker 2: You know what a huge fan I am of you.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, likewise, I mean, Katie, I have to say

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Speaker 1: you're doing such an amazing job right now with what's

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Speaker 1: going on in the world, you know, and everybody seems

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Speaker 1: like so afraid to speak up, and you're speaking up

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Speaker 1: in like you're bold and you're amazing, and I applaud

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Speaker 1: you and I thank you well.

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Speaker 2: I love getting your dms, and I'm always like Christy's

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Speaker 2: on it. She cares as much as I do, So

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Speaker 2: thank you for that. Because the whole team that's here

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Speaker 2: listening to that nice comment, Christy, they're the people who

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Speaker 2: are helping me every day.

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Speaker 1: So thank you team, because boy oh boy, we are

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Speaker 1: up against.

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Speaker 2: It, I know, and I'll maybe ask you a political

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Speaker 2: question at the end, but let's sell some books.

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Speaker 1: Let's sell some books.

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Speaker 2: Okay. So Christy, the first question I have for you

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Speaker 2: is why now? Why did you decid, you know what,

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Speaker 2: it's time for me to write my life story.

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Speaker 1: I'm seventy one. If I don't do it now, when

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Speaker 1: am I ever going to do it? You know, I

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Speaker 1: had started it before. Actually, Stephen Gaines was working with

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Speaker 1: me a little bit on it, and he immediately said,

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Speaker 1: the title of the book is Uptown Girl, period, nothing

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Speaker 1: to discuss. And then I was like, I want to

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Speaker 1: do this. Who wants to read a story about me?

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Speaker 1: And so then I just was like, eh, I don't

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Speaker 1: need to do it. And in fact, when I went

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Speaker 1: into HarperCollins, I was like, I know I have a

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Speaker 1: book in me, but part of me thinks that the

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Speaker 1: book is a Nancy Meyers movie. And because I've got

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Speaker 1: the real estate, the wardrobe, the crazy xs and once

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Speaker 1: you get out of the divorce, it's funny, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, especially my last one.

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Speaker 2: There's so much to laugh about that one, even though

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Speaker 2: at the time weren't doing a lot of laughing.

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Speaker 1: Even though at the time, I felt like I was

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Speaker 1: going to die Like.

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Speaker 2: Well, I should point out for people who don't know you,

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Speaker 2: you've got an incredible sense of humor, this extraordinary ability

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Speaker 2: to laugh at yourself. And when you were deciding, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to put my life down, what were the

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Speaker 2: animating ideas that you had. Did you say, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to be just brutally honest. That's what I did with

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Speaker 2: my book. My husband said, do not write a book

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Speaker 2: unless you can be totally honest.

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Speaker 1: And a great title for your book that delivered that message.

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Speaker 2: You know, what's the point of kind of sugarcoating things

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Speaker 2: after you've lived a life with good, bad, ups and downs. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know what, what did you think about when you

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Speaker 2: said I'm going to write my book? What was your

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Speaker 2: guiding principle? I guess I don't even know if I

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Speaker 2: really had one.

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Speaker 1: First I had to decide if it was going to

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Speaker 1: be a Nancy Meyer's comedy or a sweet story of

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Speaker 1: my days and pairs, you know. And then once Lisa

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Speaker 1: Sharky wrote me a letter the publisher at HarperCollins, and

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Speaker 1: she convinced me that my life story needed telling, and

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Speaker 1: so I started it. Actually with a writer, a guy,

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Speaker 1: and it didn't sound like me at all. And I

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Speaker 1: also have to mention I have kept journals for sixty years.

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Speaker 1: I had started, like, you know, sort of cleaning things up,

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Speaker 1: and I came across my journals that was really the

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Speaker 1: thing that said I've got to tell a story. Because

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Speaker 1: I left to Paris to be an artist, and then

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Speaker 1: when I became a model, I had no time to

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Speaker 1: be an artist, so my art shrank and I got

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Speaker 1: a repetiograph, which is a very fine point pin, and

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Speaker 1: I would do these little drawings in my journal, like

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Speaker 1: Beulah's restaurant in e Lucera and the whole crew sitting

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Speaker 1: around the table, and I think, someday I'll do a

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Speaker 1: big canvas with this and I'll paint it. But my

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Speaker 1: life hasn't slowed down to be able to do that yet.

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Speaker 1: But someday I'll paint that meantime, that kind of became

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Speaker 1: the book. Then I started working with a female writer,

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Speaker 1: Sarah Toland, who I worked with, and we started sort

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Speaker 1: of culling the stories because at seventy one, your life

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Speaker 1: just doesn't fit in a book. It just does not

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Speaker 1: fit in There's so many adventures that I couldn't put

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Speaker 1: in there. Maybe another book.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you put a lot of great stuff in there,

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Speaker 2: so many great stories, and you're right. I mean, you

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Speaker 2: had a treasure trove of source material, including letters you'd

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Speaker 2: written to your mom and dad from Paris. But you

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Speaker 2: also had to I think, excavate a lot of childhood

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Speaker 2: memories that I think were really painful and I felt

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Speaker 2: so terrible out your childhood up to the age of eight.

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Speaker 2: Your biological father was this guy named Herb Hudson, and

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Speaker 2: he was a real jackass and abusive to you. Talk

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Speaker 2: about what that was like, because I was really upset

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Speaker 2: to read what you had to endure as a little girl.

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Speaker 2: He terrified you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he You know, writing the book, there are lots

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Speaker 1: of parts of the book that I didn't really want

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Speaker 1: to write about, And I can get choked up even

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Speaker 1: thinking about that, because you know, I just didn't really

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Speaker 1: want to ever write about it. But I guess I

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Speaker 1: also didn't really want to think about it. I never

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Speaker 1: did think about it in my life because my mom

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Speaker 1: also didn't want to think about it. And once we

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Speaker 1: met my dad, who, you know, the greatest dad in.

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Speaker 2: The world, Don Brinkley.

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Speaker 1: Don Brinkley. Once we met him, you know, everything change,

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Speaker 1: but we also pretended as though the other life never

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Speaker 1: even existed. And because of that, I think I had

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Speaker 1: buried a lot of those memories. So when I did

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Speaker 1: have to try and remember the things that were popping

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Speaker 1: into my head, which were things that I didn't want

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Speaker 1: to remember. Unfortunately, the things that stood out were his belt,

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Speaker 1: you know, his whipping me with it, one of my

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Speaker 1: other childhood memories when I was singing into the microphone.

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Speaker 1: You know, I remembered that, I think because it was

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Speaker 1: also there was pain attached to it, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, and he would wash your mouth out with soap,

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Speaker 2: and you know, you would basically be terrified about him

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Speaker 2: coming home from work. You said, he used to look

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Speaker 2: for excuses to punish you, and you know, looking back

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Speaker 2: on it, I'm curious if you and I know you

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Speaker 2: and your mom just kind of basically blocked it out.

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Speaker 2: But do you have any better understanding, Christy, about what

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Speaker 2: made him the person he was and why he did

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Speaker 2: that to you? And did he do the same thing

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Speaker 2: to your brother?

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Speaker 1: You know, I really don't know. I remember. All I

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Speaker 1: can remember about my brother was that he got a

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Speaker 1: lot of really, really bad headaches, which my mom thought

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Speaker 1: was because he was stressed from her putson. But I

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Speaker 1: can't really speak to what you know, he felt. But

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Speaker 1: my mom would mention things every now and then occasionally,

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Speaker 1: and I used to say to her because she didn't

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Speaker 1: have anything nice to say, and I used to say

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Speaker 1: to her, you know what, Mom, I don't like thinking

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Speaker 1: that I made out of part of that horrible person.

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Speaker 1: And I'd rather just not hear about it, because then

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Speaker 1: it makes me feel like, am I going to be

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Speaker 1: mean like that? You know? Am I going to be

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Speaker 1: evil like that? So even if she did feel like

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Speaker 1: speaking to me at that moment, I didn't want to

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Speaker 1: speak about it.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: We didn't really psychoanalyze what was going on with him.

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Speaker 1: We didn't spend much time talking about it. All I

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Speaker 1: can surmise is that, you know, I really felt like

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Speaker 1: my life with him was this black and white movie

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Speaker 1: that you know when the film breaks and then you're

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Speaker 1: in a new phase of the life, you know, like

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Speaker 1: I have a little I have a little memory of

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Speaker 1: once we went to Disneyland in California, and I really

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Speaker 1: really really wanted to go on that auto ride where

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Speaker 1: you get to drive the cars, but to a point

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Speaker 1: in the line. Seemed like we were waiting for so

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Speaker 1: long in the line, and they left me to hold

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Speaker 1: the place in line, and then they went to go

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Speaker 1: get some drinks or something like that. Right, And as

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Speaker 1: soon as I got to the place in the line

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Speaker 1: where I could see the cars, I got so mesmerized

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Speaker 1: by the cars I forgot to keep moving and I

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Speaker 1: was just like staring at this car, like are my

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Speaker 1: feet going to fit the pedal? And what do I

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Speaker 1: do when I get to that turn? I was really like,

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Speaker 1: and I'm going to speed on that part, you know.

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Speaker 1: I was like really into it. And suddenly I was

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Speaker 1: like broken out of my reverie by him grabbing my

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Speaker 1: arm and going, why didn't you move? You didn't move?

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Speaker 1: The line moved. We were behind those people way up there,

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Speaker 1: you know, And so he pulled me out and said,

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Speaker 1: you're not going on. And those are the kind of

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Speaker 1: memories that I have of my childhood with him, So

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Speaker 1: no wonder. I didn't want to think about it.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, you know, but everything changed when you were eight.

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Speaker 2: He gave up his parental rights and Don Brinkley, who

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Speaker 2: really is your dad? Yes, for all intents and purpose,

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Speaker 2: has stepped in and you couldn't understand why your biological

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Speaker 2: father was abandoning you basically, But in retrospect, thank god

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Speaker 2: that that happened.

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Speaker 1: Yes, at the time, it was confusing because on the

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Speaker 1: one hand, I really didn't want to see him on

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Speaker 1: his visitations, so it was a relief in a way.

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Speaker 1: But I also thought that I was unlovable, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, and even if someone is a horrible father, there

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Speaker 2: is that biological pull and you always want to understand

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Speaker 2: why they don't love you right as much as anything.

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Speaker 2: So I'm sure you just felt this terrible confusion about

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Speaker 2: why he was so willing to give you up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I also lived with the constant threat that

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Speaker 1: he was going to send me to the orphanage. And

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Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I loved Shirley Temple

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Speaker 1: movie and it seemed like Shirley Temple was always being

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Speaker 1: sent to an orphanage. So I thought that was like

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Speaker 1: a fate so terrible. I was truly terrified of that,

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Speaker 1: of being sent to the orphanage. I remember when he

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Speaker 1: came in the room, I just kind of hold steel, like,

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Speaker 1: don't do anything wrong, because you'll end up in the orphanage.

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Speaker 2: How do you think you know, I'm sure you've thought

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Speaker 2: about this, but how do you think he shaped you ultimately?

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Speaker 2: I mean, thank god, Dom Brinkley stepped in and was

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Speaker 2: the total opposite and loved you unconditionally. But you must

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Speaker 2: think back of those extremely formative years and young life

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Speaker 2: experiences and wonder, gosh, what do you think that did

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Speaker 2: to me as an adult?

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Speaker 1: I think that luckily, you know, my most formative memories

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Speaker 1: I think came because my life was so vivid and

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Speaker 1: so full of life and color. And I mean, Don

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Speaker 1: Brinkley was just the most amazing man, the greatest man,

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Speaker 1: truly he was. He was like a saint in a way.

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Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of his life he had

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Speaker 1: scoliosis ann Parkinson's and the two are a terrible combination

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Speaker 1: because it crunched him down so he really couldn't breathe,

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Speaker 1: and you know, and ended up that he couldn't talk

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Speaker 1: because he had to get a feeding to be breathing,

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Speaker 1: you know, like it was. It was so awful, and

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Speaker 1: he never he never complained. He would it was a

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Speaker 1: rigmarole to get the word. But then it would make

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Speaker 1: you laugh or make you smile, and that was what

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Speaker 1: he did. He was unbelievable, unbelievable from the very beginning.

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Speaker 1: He could have a deadline, you know, for a script

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Speaker 1: do but if I need his help with homework, he

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Speaker 1: was there for me. I'm so choked up because I'm

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Speaker 1: so moved, But my good fortune, my parents were amazing,

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Speaker 1: and so I think I made a conscious choice to

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Speaker 1: escape that part of my life and to leave it

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Speaker 1: behind and not even try to think about it, not

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Speaker 1: try and psycho analyze it, but instead focus on the

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Speaker 1: great part of my life that blossomed in front of me,

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Speaker 1: you know, this great technicolor adventure that he gave our family.

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Speaker 1: He had apartment in Malibu on the beach on Old

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Speaker 1: Malibu Road, and all of a sudden we were, you know,

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Speaker 1: able to wake up and run downstairs and be at

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Speaker 1: the beach and find pebbles and stones, and there was

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Speaker 1: another rock we call Peer Rock and Volcano Rock a

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Speaker 1: little further. That's where our forts were, you know, and

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Speaker 1: of course in the posts behind the houses and stuff.

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Speaker 1: But it was like this whole new world and the

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Speaker 1: hillsides behind us before Pepper dyed, before all of that,

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Speaker 1: I knew every nook and cranny, you know, every canyon,

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Speaker 1: every little waterfall, every little thing. You know, it was

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Speaker 1: just pure magic. It was amazing. So rather than psychoanalyzed,

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Speaker 1: like when I first started writing my book and I

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Speaker 1: tell the story about the day I flew over the cornfield,

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Speaker 1: the first writer that I was working with really wanted

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Speaker 1: to psychoanalyze that moment, and I said, no, No, life

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Speaker 1: is so full of things that we don't understand. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to see backstage at Disneyland. I just want

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Speaker 1: to see the magic. I just want that part.

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Speaker 2: The cornfield was when you were escaping mentally, and you

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Speaker 2: would imagine yourself flying over a cornfield to escape your terrible,

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Speaker 2: abusive father. But I'm glad you included that because I think,

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Speaker 2: in contrast, your dad don gave you everything, and it

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Speaker 2: made you appreciate the gift of unconditional love that we

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Speaker 2: should all be so lucky to have that. Sadly, so

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Speaker 2: many people aren't. And I feel the same way about

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Speaker 2: my parents. You know that I never, for one second

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Speaker 2: of my life doubted for one nano second that they

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Speaker 2: didn't love me unconditionally and completely, and that I think

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Speaker 2: you realize as you get older what a gift that is,

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Speaker 2: and how sad it is that not everyone has that.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely.

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Speaker 2: If you want to get smarter every morning with a

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Speaker 2: breakdown of the news and fascinating takes on health and

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Speaker 2: wellness and pop call sure sign up for our daily newsletter,

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Speaker 2: Wake Up Call by going to Katiecuric dot com. I

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Speaker 2: want to fast forward, though we have so much to cover,

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Speaker 2: and I know we don't have tons of time, but

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Speaker 2: we hopefully have more time to talk about how you

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Speaker 2: went to Paris at nineteen tell us about becoming an artist.

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Speaker 2: I know Alexa describes you as kind of bohemian, but

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Speaker 2: what prompted you to decide I'm going to Paris, I'm

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Speaker 2: going to be an artist. I'm going to live this life.

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Speaker 2: I just always felt it, I knew it.

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Speaker 1: I always just had this dream that I would live

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Speaker 1: in a little garrett in Paris. I would wear my beret.

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Speaker 2: There's a very cute photo of you in your beret.

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Speaker 2: I know, yes, and everything was pointing me towards that.

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Speaker 2: I remember the film Le de Cherbourg came out, The

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Speaker 2: Umbrellas of Sherbro The Umbrellas of Cherbourg with Catherine.

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Speaker 1: De Geneve, and my dad got me the album, and

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Speaker 1: so I would put the needle back and I would

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Speaker 1: sing along, Oh trefoi game unfarm noon, then a pal

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Speaker 1: ou la pelle lola, oh t hepiubi. You know, I

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Speaker 1: was like, I was just like. I loved the music,

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Speaker 1: I loved the language, and I just had to get

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Speaker 1: into the thick of it. If it was the last

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Speaker 1: thing I did so, I don't know. But when the

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Speaker 1: opportunity presented and California was no longer big enough for

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Speaker 1: the two of us, I had a break up with

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Speaker 1: my boyfriend, and so I decided I'll show him. I'll

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Speaker 1: fly away.

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Speaker 2: And you did. You flew away to Paris. And I'm

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Speaker 2: going to talk about your first love or your first

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Speaker 2: marriage in a moment. But it was in Paris that

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Speaker 2: you were discovered by photographer Eryl Sawyer. Tell me how

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Speaker 2: he discovered you and how that happened.

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Speaker 1: Well, I was living in the garret under the rooftops.

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Speaker 1: I had fallen in love already with Chaffausseus, a French artist,

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Speaker 1: an amazing artist, really really great, and he got drafted

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Speaker 1: into the French military, and so we got this little

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Speaker 1: dog to keep me company. The little dog was sick,

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Speaker 1: so I would put the little dog in a little pannier,

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Speaker 1: you know, over my shoulder and go into the telephoning

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Speaker 1: office because in my little garret, my little latitier, I

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Speaker 1: did not have a shower, or a bathroom or a telephone.

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Speaker 1: So I went a couple blocks away to the Bampoublique,

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Speaker 1: the public baths, and I used the telephone a couple

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Speaker 1: of blocks over, and I would call the vet, and

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Speaker 1: I was calling him almost daily because my dog was sick.

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Speaker 1: And this day, as I was rushing in to call

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Speaker 1: my vet, I literally smashed right into Errol Sawyer, the

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Speaker 1: photographer who had seen me there before and had a

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Speaker 1: client who was looking for California, sporty, California type girl.

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Speaker 1: And he was like, that's the girl at the phone office.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to go back to the phone office and

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Speaker 1: see if I see her. And sure enough, as fate

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Speaker 1: would have it, I came in that day to make

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Speaker 1: the call and he said are you a model? And

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Speaker 1: I said no, and he said, well then you should be,

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Speaker 1: and I have a and he started telling me about it,

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Speaker 1: and then he gave me his name and number address

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Speaker 1: I should say, because he also didn't have a phone,

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Speaker 1: so he said, this is my studio and it wasn't

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Speaker 1: too far from me, and he said, please, please trust me.

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Speaker 1: Come let's do some photos. I'll take them into the

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Speaker 1: model agency. I'll take you into the model agency. And

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Speaker 1: I was like, really, okay. I wasn't sure if this

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Speaker 1: was a line or what. But then I was speaking

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Speaker 1: to a friend of mine, Stephanie, who went to the

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Speaker 1: Lion Los Angeles with me, and she said, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: I've seen his name on a byline. I'll go with you.

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Speaker 1: Come on, let's go. And so that's how it happened.

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Speaker 2: And the rest, as they say, is history, life change.

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Speaker 2: As you wrote on a dime, But you also talk

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Speaker 2: about how your so called flaws, which makes me laugh,

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Speaker 2: that you were too curvy, that you had chipmunk cheeks. Right.

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Speaker 2: I was told my cheeks were too round, my body

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Speaker 2: too curvy. But it turned out those were exactly the

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Speaker 2: things that set me apart. I do remember when you

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Speaker 2: arrived on the scene. I mean, to describe you as

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Speaker 2: curvy is laughable to me, because you have the most

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Speaker 2: beautiful physique. But you know, at the time your body

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Speaker 2: was a bit of an anomaly in terms of what

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Speaker 2: models were looking like. Right.

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Speaker 1: I immediately assumed that when you took me into the

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Speaker 1: model agency. They would make me look like them, right,

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Speaker 1: Like I was like, oh, what would.

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Speaker 2: They do to me?

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Speaker 1: Like I'm picturing you know, they'll do something to my hair.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, that was the thing that set me apart.

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Speaker 1: So sometimes the things that you worry about are the

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Speaker 1: things that make you different and end up to be

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Speaker 1: your key to success. And I was so lucky the

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Speaker 1: timing because modeling just prior to that had been elegant,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of long, lean, thin, elegant beauties. And

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Speaker 1: then suddenly it was let's get physical physical, you know,

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Speaker 1: with that whole movement of athletics, you know, people starting

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Speaker 1: to work out at home with Jane Fonda, right, I

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Speaker 1: mean I loved I worked out at home with Jane Fonda.

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Speaker 1: I did so many Jane Fonda tapes. The one in

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Speaker 1: the purple that she wore purple, that Alexa found this

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Speaker 1: doll that looked just like it and she called it

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Speaker 1: Jane Aga and we said Jane anam And we had

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Speaker 1: to take that doll all over the world with us

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Speaker 1: on tour, by the way, and Alexa learned to count

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Speaker 1: because I put that on. You know, I was like

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Speaker 1: losing the baby waiter. I was losing the baby wait

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Speaker 1: for the next five years. But I would put that

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Speaker 1: on and Alexa would count.

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Speaker 3: She'd go plan two three, make it burn full, five,

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Speaker 3: six and more seven eight, and that make it better.

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Speaker 2: Like that, You're such a good mimic. So I know,

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Speaker 2: Christy that four years and ten months you ran into

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Speaker 2: Eryl Sawyer. You were on your first Sports Illustrated cover

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Speaker 2: and that was in nineteen seventy nine. Wow, what was

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Speaker 2: that like?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know it was it was like I had

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Speaker 1: no idea, Like I really was clueless. Like they threw

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Speaker 1: a big party for me, and I literally called the

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Speaker 1: agency to say, you know, I don't think I can

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Speaker 1: go to that party, and they were like, what do

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Speaker 1: you mean you can't go to the party? It's for you.

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Speaker 1: I just had no idea. It's like, oh, okay, I

408
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Speaker 1: was doing my makeup in the car on the way there,

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of wet hair and just throwing myself together.

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Speaker 1: You know. By the third one, I had hear and

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Speaker 1: make people. I had a stylist getting me close, but

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Speaker 1: I really didn't know, Like I was a very reluctant model.

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Speaker 1: I have to say, you know, I don't even know

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Speaker 1: if I had a chance to write that in my memoir.

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Speaker 1: I used to love sitting at a cafe in Paris,

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Speaker 1: for instance, with my little sketch pad and be able

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Speaker 1: to just blend in, you know, and like not be noticed.

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Speaker 1: And then Sports Illustrated. After Sports Illustrated, you get noticed.

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Speaker 2: What was that like?

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Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't like it bothered me, but it was.

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Speaker 1: It was different. It was different. But people have always

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Speaker 1: been very nice. I have to say, you know, because hard.

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Speaker 2: For your kids too write. It's sometimes hard because.

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Speaker 1: Lesson just thought that we were really popular, Like everybody

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Speaker 1: likes my mom and dad, you know, they have a

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Speaker 1: lot of friends.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, You've had such an interesting life in terms of

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Speaker 2: your loves and your marriages, and I wanted to just

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Speaker 2: kind of talk about that because you mentioned Jean Francois,

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Speaker 2: as you said, he was a remarkable artist. You were

431
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,920
Speaker 2: in a way to peace and a pod I guess

432
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 2: at the time, but as your fame increased, and I

433
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 2: think this is the tricky part of fame. I think

434
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 2: about this like for people who are in marriages when

435
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,239
Speaker 2: they're both actors, or one person has more success than

436
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 2: the other. That really derailed your marriage to Jean Francois

437
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 2: in many ways, didn't it.

438
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, But you know, as opposed to other people, it

439
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,440
Speaker 1: was because he had so much character, he was such

440
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: a great guy that he didn't want to spend my money.

441
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: I was like, it's not my money. We are a team,

442
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't be able to do half these

443
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 1: things if I didn't know that I was coming home to,

444
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: you know, my wonderful so so, no, we're a team

445
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: and we help each other. And he knew, but he

446
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: became uncomfortable with like, no, I can't really afford a

447
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: plane ticket right now. And the more opportunities that I

448
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,720
Speaker 1: had to experience places and things and see things and explore,

449
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 1: then he started to become more uncomfortable with it because

450
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 1: he couldn't afford it on his dime. And he was

451
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 1: successful in what he did, but what he did didn't

452
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: earn the same kind of money that what I did.

453
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 1: I mean, his dream was to work for the New

454
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: York Times, and he got to do that. But he just,

455
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 1: you know, was like the opposite of a lot of

456
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 1: guys in a way that you know, most people would

457
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 1: be like, oh, sure, buy me a ticket, let's go.

458
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 2: You know, he didn't want to feel like he was

459
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 2: taking advantage of it.

460
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, he didn't want to feel like that. But it

461
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: did become a bit of an issue because even though

462
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 1: it was a nice way of doing it, like he

463
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: was nice about it and great about it, I just

464
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: wanted him to be comfortable with it and let's go,

465
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,560
Speaker 1: let's keep exploring and doing things.

466
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 2: And you have to remember, this was a number of

467
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 2: decades ago where this I think was a much bigger

468
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 2: issue than it is today. I still think it exists,

469
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 2: but you know, it was very unusual for the woman

470
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 2: to be more financially secure than the man, and I

471
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 2: think it was after a lot of cultural conditioning, really

472
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 2: hard for I think men to handle it. It's still

473
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 2: I think can be, but I think we're much more

474
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: enlightened now than we were back then, because, as I said,

475
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 2: this was when you were nineteen years old, you met

476
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 2: Olivier Chandon, you fell for him hard. Tell us about

477
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,960
Speaker 2: that love affair, Christy.

478
00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 1: Olivier. He was such a great guy, was so extraordinary

479
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: from the moment I met him. I met him actually

480
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,720
Speaker 1: the night at Studio fifty four, the first time I

481
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 1: ever went to Studio fifty four and Ford models and

482
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated combined to do this party for me. And

483
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 1: as I walked in, he walked over and congratulated me

484
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: on the evening, and I recognized his accent, and so

485
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: we started to speak a little bit in fringe. You know.

486
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: He was very handsome, but he you know, everybody was

487
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 1: trying to you know, I was like the person that

488
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 1: they wanted to take a picture of or whatever.

489
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 2: Because it was their party, right, yeah.

490
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 1: And so he didn't want to hang on to me.

491
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 1: He was like, ooh, go, everybody wants to you know, go.

492
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: So I went on, but I was kind of thinking

493
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: about where did that cute guy go, you know. And

494
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: then sure enough, the next day I got the most beautiful,

495
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:02,520
Speaker 1: giant bouquet of flowers with the loveliest note in French

496
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: that said, ivanta ser sevanri gesperte lauvois before these these

497
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: few flowers fade, I hope to see you again.

498
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 2: Wow.

499
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 1: I was like, oh. And so then I called my

500
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: friend Maury Hopson, who I call hops, and I called

501
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 1: Hopps and I said, Hops, Hops, that guy Olivier send

502
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 1: me flowers. And he's like, wait, Olivier Chandon and I

503
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: said yes, yes, and he said, Oh my gosh, Christy,

504
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: he's a count. I said, he's a what he said,

505
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: he's a count? I said, well, what does that even mean?

506
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: You know, he's adorable and he sent me flowers and

507
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 1: it also mentioned he wanted to take me out for dinner.

508
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 1: So I said, so, I'm seeing him later, and it

509
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 1: just started like that, Like everywhere we went. He was

510
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: so worldly, you know, he was so he spoke every language. Obviously,

511
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:08,840
Speaker 1: he spoke English really well. He spoke French, he spoke Portuguese,

512
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: he spoke Spanish. He was like brilliant. He listened to

513
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: classical music and it moved him and he loved it.

514
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,040
Speaker 1: And he loved the ballet and he knew all the

515
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: ballerinas and they all knew him. And he loved art

516
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: and he loved life. He was a liver, like so

517
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: was hawks, my best friend at the time. They were

518
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: both of them. I'd say, you guys are livers, you know,

519
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: you like to live it up. And they just were

520
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,320
Speaker 1: the type of people that liked to dive in, you know,

521
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: and immerse themselves in life. And I loved that, and

522
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 1: so I loved going everywhere, you know with Olivier. At

523
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,160
Speaker 1: the time, that I met him. He was actually working

524
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 1: for Otis Elevators, but he wanted to be a race

525
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: car driver. Was his lifelong dream.

526
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 2: Whoa wait, the count was working for ODIs Elevator.

527
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 1: He was working for ODIs Elevators. He was like selling

528
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: accounts or something, you know, super boring, he thought. And

529
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 1: every day he would like drive out of the city

530
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:17,479
Speaker 1: to someplace.

531
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 2: Like that just doesn't square with everything you just told me,

532
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 2: I know, but.

533
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 1: He really, you know, he'd come back and he would

534
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: like talk about, like, you know, how he wanted to

535
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 1: do this other thing. And he started pursuing that, and

536
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 1: you know, we went to the different races and I

537
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 1: was like, don't do that, that's too risky. But he

538
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: had a fear of dying, so like he wanted to

539
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 1: face the fear of dying.

540
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:51,280
Speaker 2: And so in nineteen eighty three he did.

541
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did. And it was for a person that

542
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 1: young and full of life and joy and just somebody

543
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 1: who was just so immersed in each and every day,

544
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 1: just you know, as soon as he'd get off work.

545
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: And he turned pretty quickly. I mean, you know, that

546
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 1: was just in the very beginning. And then he started,

547
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 1: you know, pursuing his dream, and on the one hand,

548
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 1: it was his dream that killed him, but it also

549
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: you know, gave him so much joy doing that. And

550
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 1: then yeah, it got him.

551
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,880
Speaker 2: At just twenty seven, which is so so young.

552
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,440
Speaker 1: Way too young, way too young. And it was so

553
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:51,759
Speaker 1: shocking to me that the day that it happened. Well,

554
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,440
Speaker 1: I can't I don't want to say too much because

555
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: it's such a sad story. All the circumstances surrounding it

556
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 1: are confusing and so sad and so awful, and I

557
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: don't know, I still can't really find the words.

558
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 2: You know, do you think that you all would have

559
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,880
Speaker 2: gotten married and lived a life together.

560
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: You know, we spoke about like having a baby someday,

561
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:25,800
Speaker 1: but not at the moment because we were both still

562
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 1: trying to you know, get our careers stabilized or you know,

563
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 1: grow our careers. And he was so enthusiastic about it.

564
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 1: I mean I went with him to a race in Chicago.

565
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,839
Speaker 1: I went with him to Las Vegas, and we would

566
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 1: wake up in the morning and you hear the cars

567
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 1: buzzing on the track and it was just like this

568
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: electricity you know, that was charging him, like let's go,

569
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: let's get there. And when he got you know, had

570
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 1: his suit and at his sing suit, and I went

571
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:04,760
Speaker 1: with him to one of the things when he spun

572
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 1: out on the track. And I begged him after that

573
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,160
Speaker 1: because we were in some place in California as a

574
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:13,839
Speaker 1: speedway and it was kind of desert y, and all

575
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: of a sudden he hit the dust and the dust

576
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 1: plume went up and we didn't know, and we just

577
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,280
Speaker 1: shot out of there and we were running as fast

578
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 1: as we could to get to him. And after that,

579
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: I was like, please don't do this anymore, Please give

580
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,800
Speaker 1: it up. It's just too dangerous. It's just too dangerous.

581
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 1: And then the last day that I saw him, we

582
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,080
Speaker 1: were in a little bit of an argument and I

583
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:45,840
Speaker 1: didn't kiss him goodbye, And I'll regret that for you know,

584
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 1: my whole life. Like I always say, don't ever have

585
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:55,359
Speaker 1: an argument and leave. Don't ever do that. We all

586
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 1: mean too much to each other to ever let the

587
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:05,320
Speaker 1: other one the room angry or upset. You know, So

588
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:11,440
Speaker 1: in life, don't anybody listening ever do that. Always make

589
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: sure that people they know how much you love them.

590
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 2: In a way, you were still grieving this loss when

591
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,800
Speaker 2: you met Billy in Saint Bart's. I love that you

592
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 2: have that photo from the night you all met, and

593
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,759
Speaker 2: it sounds like he really was your salvation in a way.

594
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 2: And I read that you thought his name was Billy

595
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,440
Speaker 2: Joe and you didn't really know that much about him,

596
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 2: and yet your relationship turned out to be really magical.

597
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,959
Speaker 2: I know that you write about how you were hurt

598
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 2: by these media characterizations of like beauty and the beasts,

599
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 2: and that bothered me too. I thought that was hurtful

600
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 2: and so shallow. But you know, you are this perfect

601
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 2: looking woman, Christy, whether you like it or not. And Billy,

602
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,120
Speaker 2: you know, was this sort of dark, you know, haired guy,

603
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:31,640
Speaker 2: not super tall, with these kind of deep set eyes

604
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 2: and kind of this moody look. And what was it

605
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,759
Speaker 2: that attracted you to Billy? Obviously? I know you say

606
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 2: that he's physically hot and intellectually charismatic and that there

607
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,920
Speaker 2: was this chemistry between you two.

608
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny because Katie, the first night that I

609
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:56,759
Speaker 1: met him, in same parts, I looked right past him,

610
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:03,800
Speaker 1: but he was so funny. I knew that night that

611
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 1: I wanted to be friends with him forever. I was like, oh,

612
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: I'm definitely going to make sure that we stay friends

613
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: because we laughed. We laughed, and the next night we

614
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: all went out, you know, the whole gang of us.

615
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 1: We all went out for dinner, and again we all laughed.

616
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,839
Speaker 1: We all laughed, I wrote in my journal, and then

617
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: we both went home with the wrong person.

618
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 2: You know.

619
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 1: But after Olivier died, well even before Olivier died, Billy

620
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:36,719
Speaker 1: had called a couple times, and you know, we were

621
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:40,799
Speaker 1: on the phone, laughing and being friends, being each other's friend.

622
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,880
Speaker 1: Then after he died, he waited a little bit and

623
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 1: then he called me and he said, you know, I

624
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,719
Speaker 1: know what you're going through, and I just want to

625
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: say I want to be there for you in any

626
00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 1: way I can if you need me, if you want

627
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:57,200
Speaker 1: to talk about it, in any way, shape or form,

628
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:01,480
Speaker 1: I'm there for you. And he was really sincere about it,

629
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: and he he really was my friend, and we were

630
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:13,440
Speaker 1: friends at first, and I remember being bothered by his

631
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 1: hair and his shoes and I literally said to my mom,

632
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 1: you know, I'm seeing this guy and I really like him,

633
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 1: and he really makes me laugh, and he's we have

634
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 1: so much fun together and he's very very different from

635
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,320
Speaker 1: you know, the from guys that I've been with before,

636
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: and were's these sort of little pointed shoes, and she said,

637
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 1: you can change a man's shoes, you can change a

638
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: man's hair, but you can't do anything about the rest.

639
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: So if the rest is good for you, go with it.

640
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 1: And so I said, yeah, well, he's got a good

641
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,080
Speaker 1: heart and a good sense of humor, and she said,

642
00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,880
Speaker 1: go with it. And then I just like, you know,

643
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: a couple of little tweaks, and he was super hot.

644
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,799
Speaker 2: And where was he in his career at the time.

645
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 2: He was really, I mean, listen Billy's body of work,

646
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 2: like you can't compare it to anything, I mean to

647
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,319
Speaker 2: really all the greats. And I know a documentary's coming

648
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,120
Speaker 2: out about him, which I can't wait to see. But

649
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 2: was he on the cusper? Had he already exploded when

650
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:25,920
Speaker 2: you met?

651
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't know where he was professionally, because

652
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: I didn't know any of his work prior to that.

653
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 1: But he was professionally just starting a new album, which

654
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:42,239
Speaker 1: was amazing because I think he had like one or

655
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: two songs, and then he was writing as our relationship

656
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,480
Speaker 1: was growing, and I would be in the studio and

657
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:53,320
Speaker 1: he'd be singing, you know these songs, and I was

658
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: right there through the whole process, and I mean that

659
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:03,800
Speaker 1: was pure, pure magic. I love music. To me, I

660
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,399
Speaker 1: love the arts, but to me, music is the art

661
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 1: that literally paints the air around you. They can make

662
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,000
Speaker 1: you get up out of your chair and dance, or

663
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 1: it can remind you of a special moment. It just

664
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 1: takes you places and it becomes, you know, the soundtrack

665
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,960
Speaker 1: to your life. And I felt like in my years

666
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 1: with Billy and Alexa, I've been lucky to have like

667
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: a home full of beautiful music playing all the time.

668
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 1: There was somebody at the piano, you know, just filling

669
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 1: the air, and oh it was amazing, amazing.

670
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 2: It kind of came crashing down, or the relationship ended

671
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:54,520
Speaker 2: because of Billy's drinking. And you're very honest about this, Christy,

672
00:42:54,680 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 2: And I'm curious how he felt about that and how

673
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,800
Speaker 2: hard it was to be this honest about the crumbling

674
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:06,759
Speaker 2: of your marriage and your relationship.

675
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 1: Well, I think you know, and I don't want to

676
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 1: speak for Billy, but you know I am in his

677
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:19,520
Speaker 1: documentary and he said, don't hold back, you know, say

678
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:23,160
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say, whatever you're comfortable with, whatever

679
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,080
Speaker 1: you need to say, whatever I understand. And I'm not

680
00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 1: gonna be mad or you know, anything he said, just whatever.

681
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:37,400
Speaker 1: I think that he's capable of doing that now because

682
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:43,280
Speaker 1: I know that in part of his you know, healing

683
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: was knowing what you did. When a person drinks to

684
00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 1: a certain point that they don't remember what they did

685
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 1: the night before, I think that it's helpful in a way.

686
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,640
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I certainly am not out

687
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:02,360
Speaker 1: to hurt anybody, but I think that you need to

688
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,600
Speaker 1: know what you did hurt people.

689
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 2: You all have a really nice relationship now, don't you.

690
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I'll always love Billy. I always will.

691
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 1: We were together in such formative years, you know, years

692
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:24,319
Speaker 1: that really shaped both our futures. You know, we had

693
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:27,239
Speaker 1: some of the best years of my life. And you

694
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: have a daughter, my firstborn, you know, so that was

695
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: really really special. And you know, Alexi always say to Alexa,

696
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:39,200
Speaker 1: you know, Alexa, you got us for the first ten

697
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:43,120
Speaker 1: years of your life, you know, without any other siblings

698
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,800
Speaker 1: to you know, pull our attention away.

699
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,800
Speaker 2: So and I think it's interesting. I've watched a video

700
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:51,719
Speaker 2: of you and Alexa going through photos together, which I

701
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:56,080
Speaker 2: really enjoyed, and sounds like she's a lot more like

702
00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 2: Billy than she is.

703
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:03,280
Speaker 1: You oh, yes, she's are definitely two peas and upond alexa.

704
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 1: When she was a little she always categorized people in colors,

705
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,719
Speaker 1: and she had red and green people, which she and

706
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:14,560
Speaker 1: her dad are red and green and blue and yellow people.

707
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 1: And I'm a blue and yellow person. So I'm like, oh,

708
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 1: like Oshan in the sun, like cozy Christmases, you know.

709
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:26,719
Speaker 1: And she said, yes, pretty much like that. Intellectual and

710
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:28,480
Speaker 1: not intellectual.

711
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,360
Speaker 2: No, that's not true. I think you give yourself a

712
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 2: short shrift. I think you're very smart. I swear I

713
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:37,480
Speaker 2: could go all Joe Rogan on you, Christy and like

714
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:40,360
Speaker 2: talk for three hours. I'm not going to. But in

715
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:44,239
Speaker 2: your acknowledgments you thank your divorce lawyer who said you

716
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 2: have a bad picker. Moving after Billy, you did have

717
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 2: a couple of relationships which did not turn out the

718
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,520
Speaker 2: way you had hope, to say the least. I know

719
00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:01,320
Speaker 2: that one was with Richard Talbman. He was your third husband.

720
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,240
Speaker 2: I know that you say you quote unquote trauma bonded

721
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,919
Speaker 2: after you were in a helicopter crash in nineteen ninety four,

722
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 2: and I remember when that happened and how scary that was.

723
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 2: But that relationship ended up being incredibly disappointing. You say

724
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:23,719
Speaker 2: it was chaotic and draining financially and otherwise. Was that

725
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 2: kind of your classic rebound relationship you think, Christy, because

726
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 2: I know at one point you thought, after the helicopter crash,

727
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 2: this was Billy's chance to be a knight and shining

728
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,880
Speaker 2: armor and come and rescue you, but he didn't. I

729
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:42,920
Speaker 2: actually had met this guy on he who shall not

730
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 2: be named, Yes, yes, you shall not be I have

731
00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:49,359
Speaker 2: a few of those.

732
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: But he was kind of working me. I guess, you know,

733
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: everything that I love. He was into and on the

734
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,400
Speaker 1: verge of doing or doing. But I actually went skiing

735
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 1: because I wanted to show Billy that he could lose me.

736
00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:09,279
Speaker 2: You know.

737
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 1: I wanted to like remove myself and was kind of

738
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: just sitting there at home in the Hamptons, you know,

739
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:18,879
Speaker 1: So I wanted to be like out and about separated,

740
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,640
Speaker 1: and I thought maybe he would see that and be like, oh,

741
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,799
Speaker 1: I need to really pay attention now and clean up

742
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 1: my act and go after her. That's what I was

743
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:33,399
Speaker 1: hoping for by going to Aspen or to tell your

744
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:37,040
Speaker 1: ride on my couple of ski trips that I was doing.

745
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 1: But he didn't take the bait, But there was another

746
00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:50,000
Speaker 1: guy that did show interest and eventually caught my attention

747
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:50,839
Speaker 1: in a big way.

748
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:56,400
Speaker 2: You all ended up having your son Jack, and I

749
00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:01,720
Speaker 2: know that you write you married Peter Cook, your fourth husband,

750
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,839
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety six, and you write for a number

751
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,960
Speaker 2: of reasons, primarily because I felt both a sense of

752
00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,520
Speaker 2: urgency to find Jack a father figure and terror it

753
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 2: that thought that Ricky might swoop back in if I didn't.

754
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 2: This is after you all got divorced. I said yes

755
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,960
Speaker 2: when Peter asked me to marry him later that year.

756
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 2: I should preface that question by saying that Ricky got

757
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 2: in touch with your biological father, Herb, and even said quote,

758
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:36,040
Speaker 2: I'm going to walk away from you and the baby,

759
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,719
Speaker 2: just like Herb Hudson did. What an asshole? Well, I mean,

760
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,080
Speaker 2: first of all, that's pretty psychotic.

761
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:48,880
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe. It was like a time machine, you know,

762
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 1: like somebody had reached back into my past and plucked

763
00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 1: this person out and brought them, you know, inserted him

764
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:03,400
Speaker 1: into my life in a way that was so unexpected

765
00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:08,920
Speaker 1: and cruel that I just couldn't even believe that this

766
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 1: was happening. How do you even it was so diabolical

767
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:15,360
Speaker 1: to even come up with that concept.

768
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:20,600
Speaker 2: So you marry Peter. You all looked, on the face

769
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 2: of it, like the perfect couple. He's handsome, blonde, he

770
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,640
Speaker 2: adopts Jack, right, which is great, you have sailor your

771
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:38,239
Speaker 2: daughter together, and then he ends up basically having a

772
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,880
Speaker 2: thing with this teenage girl in the Hamptons, right, who

773
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:47,760
Speaker 2: worked at a toy store. Yeah, yeah, Honny me Christy,

774
00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:52,440
Speaker 2: I have to agree with your divorce lawyer. I know

775
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 2: you have a bad picker, I know, and it was.

776
00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:02,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a very bad bad pick on my part. Now,

777
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:07,040
Speaker 1: those last two marriages, reading my journals and stuff, I

778
00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:10,520
Speaker 1: just look at myself and I just like, during the

779
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 1: third one, I was like, why didn't I get out

780
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 1: of it faster? Why didn't I see that? Although it

781
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:20,960
Speaker 1: could make a funny Nancy Meyers.

782
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:24,839
Speaker 2: Movie, there's always Nancy Meyer.

783
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:30,800
Speaker 1: Like with distance. Now, oh man, there's stuff there that

784
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:37,279
Speaker 1: would just be hilarious, hilarious, But I couldn't laugh a

785
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:39,040
Speaker 1: lot while it was going on.

786
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:44,200
Speaker 2: I'm sure very very very trying, very trying, and so

787
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:48,960
Speaker 2: public and so mortifying for you. I felt for you

788
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:53,000
Speaker 2: so much during that period of time in your life

789
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:55,920
Speaker 2: and where are you now? I mean, do you feel

790
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 2: happy and content? I think I know the answer to this,

791
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:04,600
Speaker 2: risty Yeah. And do you feel like, gosh, I would

792
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,279
Speaker 2: like a partner. I know you don't feel like you

793
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:09,680
Speaker 2: need a partner at this point in your life.

794
00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:17,440
Speaker 1: Yeah. I you know, whenever something really really exciting, great happy,

795
00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:24,239
Speaker 1: whether it's like magnificent sunset or anything, you know, an

796
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 1: exciting trip or something, that's when I feel like I

797
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:33,399
Speaker 1: wish I could share this with somebody. But I very

798
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:38,320
Speaker 1: often my house is full, I you know, always have,

799
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:41,040
Speaker 1: there's always there's always at least one of the kid

800
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:45,360
Speaker 1: home with a group of friends. It's very busy place,

801
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:50,640
Speaker 1: and so I'm very content and grateful for what i have.

802
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,680
Speaker 1: But when there is a very magical sunset, sometimes I

803
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,799
Speaker 1: feel like going, oh, yeah, there's nobody there.

804
00:51:58,480 --> 00:51:58,640
Speaker 2: You know.

805
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 1: That's a little sad that, but that's it. You know.

806
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 2: You describe Olivier Chandon and your friend Hops, who I've

807
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:10,120
Speaker 2: never met, so I'm just referring to him again as

808
00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:14,880
Speaker 2: real livers, not the organ but the attitude. And you know,

809
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:18,000
Speaker 2: I feel like you are too. You continue to stay

810
00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:23,320
Speaker 2: so engaged in the world. You're always you know, you're entrepreneurial,

811
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:29,800
Speaker 2: you're politically active. You are I think, living your life

812
00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:34,719
Speaker 2: to the fullest every single day, and I really admire

813
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:35,560
Speaker 2: that about you.

814
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:39,320
Speaker 1: You know that is I've always felt a sense of

815
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,560
Speaker 1: gratitude always. My mom and dad raised me like that.

816
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:50,800
Speaker 1: But after you know, my death defying life, I feel

817
00:52:50,920 --> 00:52:54,320
Speaker 1: like I kind of have gratitude on steroids, and I

818
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 1: just am like so grateful when I wake up in

819
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:01,520
Speaker 1: the morning and I got a new day to dive into.

820
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 1: I cannot even leave my property, but feel like, you know,

821
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:10,760
Speaker 1: just so ecstatic to be in the day. And whatever

822
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:15,080
Speaker 1: it is, whatever that I get into, I enjoy it.

823
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:19,080
Speaker 1: I just do, whether it's watering my house plants and

824
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,640
Speaker 1: look at my little tree here, I am very happy.

825
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,320
Speaker 2: Well, I'm so glad you wrote a book about your life.

826
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:32,640
Speaker 2: We've only scratched the surface of everything that you've experienced,

827
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:37,600
Speaker 2: and I highly recommend people read it. I just think

828
00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:42,000
Speaker 2: you're a very special person. I feel, even though we

829
00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:46,040
Speaker 2: don't know each other super well, I admire you and

830
00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:49,120
Speaker 2: feel connected to you and appreciate you.

831
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that I know that if

832
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:56,000
Speaker 1: a band strikes up a song and we know the

833
00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,520
Speaker 1: backup that you'll be up there with me singing backup,

834
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:01,960
Speaker 1: I will.

835
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 2: I just think you're a great person. I really like you.

836
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,640
Speaker 2: And you know, I was interviewing somebody about the Pope

837
00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:10,880
Speaker 2: this morning, and I said, what do you think his

838
00:54:11,400 --> 00:54:15,600
Speaker 2: legacy was? And this Jesuit priest said, he was just

839
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:20,440
Speaker 2: a really great person and he was just really really loved.

840
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:22,759
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I feel the same. Not that

841
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,120
Speaker 2: I'm comparing you to Pope Francis.

842
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:33,400
Speaker 1: But the Pope loved everybody. The Pope like literally loved everyone.

843
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:39,480
Speaker 1: And I think that's why I loved the Pope, you know,

844
00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:43,560
Speaker 1: because I loved his love. And that's what we all

845
00:54:43,719 --> 00:54:47,840
Speaker 1: need to do right now, is we all need to

846
00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 1: just say stop everything, Let's just love one another. Let's

847
00:54:54,680 --> 00:55:00,600
Speaker 1: just stop this madness going on in Washington. Just stop,

848
00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:04,600
Speaker 1: and let's just go back to just let's just love.

849
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 1: Let's try and be friends with everybody. Let's just you know,

850
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:12,799
Speaker 1: it's time for love. Because love is the strongest thing

851
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:13,400
Speaker 1: in the world.

852
00:55:13,640 --> 00:55:14,799
Speaker 2: We know that it's a.

853
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,839
Speaker 1: Fact, and it's time for love to prevail. It's time.

854
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:24,000
Speaker 2: Christy. Thank you. Speaking of time, you've given me a

855
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:28,320
Speaker 2: lot of viewers, so thank you. My team is probably like, Katie,

856
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,160
Speaker 2: when is she going to stop? She's been talking to

857
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:34,399
Speaker 2: Christie Brinkley No, for like an hour and a half,

858
00:55:34,640 --> 00:55:37,439
Speaker 2: But there were so many things I wanted to talk

859
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:39,320
Speaker 2: with you about. I hope I get to see you

860
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:40,840
Speaker 2: in person soon and.

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Speaker 1: Call me when you're out and let's eat and keep

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00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:46,120
Speaker 1: up the good work, Katie.

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00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:48,160
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm trying, Honey, I'm trying.

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00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:57,200
Speaker 1: Thank you, happy, trying hell again until I figure out

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Speaker 1: how to find the off button. You kill me? Love

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Speaker 1: you too.

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Speaker 2: The end A little Roxyheart ladies and gentlemen, Thanks for listening. Everyone.

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Speaker 2: If you have a question for me, a subject you

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Speaker 2: want us to cover, or you want to share your

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00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:25,120
Speaker 2: thoughts about how you navigate this crazy world, reach out

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00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 2: send me a DM on Instagram. I would love to

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00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:31,960
Speaker 2: hear from you. Next Question is a production of iHeartMedia

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00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:36,520
Speaker 2: and Katie Couric Media. The executive producers are Me, Katie Kuric,

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00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:41,040
Speaker 2: and Courtney Ltz. Our supervising producer is Ryan Martz, and

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00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:46,240
Speaker 2: our producers are Adriana Fazzio and Meredith Barnes. Julian Weller

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00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:51,000
Speaker 2: composed our theme music. For more information about today's episode,

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00:56:51,200 --> 00:56:53,520
Speaker 2: or to sign up for my newsletter Wake Up Call,

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00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:56,919
Speaker 2: go to the description in the podcast app, or visit

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00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:00,200
Speaker 2: us at Katiecuric dot com. You can also find me

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00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 2: on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more

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00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:09,400
Speaker 2: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:11,480
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.