Supermodel Cindy Crawford, born Cynthia Anne Crawford, is best known as the “All-American” glamour girl. She has the distinction of being officially crowned as one of the original modern day supermodels, known as the “Fab Five” (See Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Tatjana Patitz).

Cindy was born in Dekalb, Michigan and raised in the countryside of Illinois, USA. Her parents are John Crawford and Jennifer Moluf. She had a brother who died at a young age of leukemia.

Cindy’s break came by hazard. She was seen and photographed by a newspaper photographer as she was shucking corn on her summer job. At the time, she was 15 years old.  The picture and the positive reactions from the photos convinced her to give modeling a chance.  This proved to be a money-maker for the young future star.

In the beginning, not everyone shared in the thought that Cindy could make it to the big league of the modelling world. Due to her distinguished beauty mark, many modelling agencies rejected her upon first sight. Headstrong and refusing to bow to pressure from agents to have her mole removed, she got accepted to Elite (Chicago) for representation after having completed a training course for perspective models at a local John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center. Dedicated to her craft, Cindy commuted from home to Chicago to work with photographers, go on castings and for her work assignments.

A brilliant student, Cindy graduated high school not only as an honor student, but as class valedictorian too. She then entered the prestigious Northwestern University on a scholarship, and where she studied chemical engineering.

 She continued modeling while at Northwestern and maintained a 4.0 GPA.  However, feeling that her time had come, she left school and moved to Chicago. Working with photographer Victor Skrebneski, success came her way.

After being a finalist in the Elite Model Look of the Year (for Chicago) in 1983, Cindy Crawford moved to New York City in 1986 upon the insistence of Elite (New York) agent, Monique Pillard. Once there, she was a sensation and began working with Richard Avedon, Stephen Meisel, Mae Tao, Bruce Weber, Annie Leibowitz, Herb Ritts, Partrick Demarchelier, etc. She became one of the most sought after models in the world!

 Cindy, along with Tatjana Patitz and the three supermodels that comprised fashion’s “trinity” (Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista) were chosen to star in George Michael’s music video of his chart-topping song, “Freedom”. She also appeared in Bon Jovi’s music video, “Please Come Home for Christmas”. Her beauty was so imposing that she also inspired the pop icon Prince to write a song about her: “Cindy C.” She is also one of the supermodels mentioned in Rupaul’s N° 1 dance hit, Supermodel.

 Having starred in numerous campaigns and television commercials for Pepsi Cola, Cindy had arrived. She then broke every existing old-age taboo by posing nude in Playboy magazine.  Her logic was clear in doing so. If she would pose nude for any magazine, her face would have to be included, which went against the practice of the day. This edition of Playboy, featuring nude pictures of a reigning queen of supermodels, became one of the top selling of all time for the magazine.

In 1991, Cindy Crawford married famed actor, Richard Gere.  They couple divorced less than 5 years later in 1995.

During their marriage, both Cindy and Richard had to defend themselves against tabloid allegations which rumored them each to be homosexuals.  Others even went so far as to denounce their marriage as a cover up to hide their sexuality. The rumor mills went into overdrive in 1993 when Cindy posed in sexually provocative positions with the openly lesbian singer, K.D. Lang for the August edition of Vanity Fair.  Crawford later married club owner, Rande Gerber. They have two children, Presley, born on July 2, 1999 and Kaia, born September 3, 2001. Both children were born in the couple’s home through natural means.

From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was the television host of MTV‘s House of Style. During this period, she also represented Cover Girl Cosmetics and Revlon. In 1995, she starred opposite Billy Baldwin in her first movie, the action-thriller Fair Game.  Her performance was most unconvincing and was panned by critics. The film, which cost $50 million to make, was deemed death at the box office, earning only $11 million.

Cindy’s athletic and beautiful body caused problems abroad. In 1992, Norwegian authorities order roadside posters of her be removed due to a noted 300% rise in the rate of accidents. It was discovered that Cindy’s revealing and sexy image was behind the rise in accidents as it distracted motorists long enough to cause the accidents.

Playboy ranked her 5 on it list of the “100 Sexiest Stars of the 20^th Century”. The consummate cover-girl, Cindy has been featured on the cover of more than 600 magazines worldwide including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, W, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, People, Allure, Marie Claire, Mademoiselle, People, George, Maxim, etc.

In 1997, 4000 In Shape magazine readers placed her second (behind Demi Moore) in its most beautiful woman in the world survey. In 1992, 1993 and 2002, People magazine name her to its “50 Most Beautiful People” list.

Cindy’s popularity comes from her “girl next door” appeal. Consumers love her approachable image. Cindy’s name and face have been responsible for the successful launching of numerous new brands. She has also been instrumental in helping to breathe new life into familiar brands such as Revlon and Pepsi. The 1993 Pepsi commercial in which she starred stands still today as one of the most notable and award-winning of all time.  In 2002, she reunited with Pepsi for another commercial.  This one, titled “Always a Classic”, pays homage to Cindy’s timelessness.

Among her other notable work, she has been a long time spokesperson since 1995 for Omega watches. Her work with them has taken her to Europe, India, Dubai, New Zealand, Russia and China.

Cindy is one of the world’s richest supermodels having amassed a fortune close to $40 million.  She continues to be a top earner for the companies and charitable organizations whose products she endorses as a celebrity.

She is a highly respected business woman. She has created opportunity after opportunity in the worlds of fashion, beauty, television and to some small extent, film. She was always a delight to work with thanks to her professional ethics and punctuality. She was the first supermodel to declare that she was a “brand”.

In 2003, she also put her expertise and experience to work helping Omega to revamp their advertisement campaigns.  Two Thousand and Three also saw Cindy team with Clairol to promote its Nice N’Easy hair colouring products. She also began during that time a 5 year partnership with jk naturals to create a new line that contains all natural deodorant without aluminium and toxins for the special care of the skin, she is not only the face of the company, but sits on the corporate board.

In 2002, she launched on an international scale her popular signature fragrance, “Cindy Crawford”. In 2003, she launched her “Feminine”, a fragrance formulated to show a more personal side of her personality. Then came “Joyful” and finally “Delightful” in 2005.

Crawford now owns her own production company, Crawdaddy Inc. She and renowned French cosmetic surgeon Jean Louis Sebagh teamed up to develop a revolutionary “age-maintenance” skin care line called “Meaningful Beauty”.  The skin rejuvenating products are accessible to everyone.

Filmography

The Simian Line (2000); 54 (1998); Fair Game (1995); Unzipped (1995).

TV/VIDEO

Cindy Crawford: A New Dimension (2000); The Secret World of… Supermodels (1998); Beautopia (1998); Sesame Street: Elmopalooza! (1998); Frasier: Halloween (1997); Catwalk (1995); Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge Workout (1993); Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body Workout (1992) House of Style (1989-1995).

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