Cindy Crawford biography 2022

Cindy Crawford biography

Cindy Crawford was born on February 20, 1966, in De Kalb, Illinois, USA.

She was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then-16-year-old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasseling corn and took a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback surrounding her photogenic talents convinced her to quit her day job and take up modeling.

Thanks to summers of modeling, represented by Elite Model Management in Chicago, Cindy also had brains - she traded in the glamorous life of a model to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University on scholarship.

The former high school valedictorian pulled off the same exceptional grades in college as in high school, but she didn't stick around long enough to see where a degree in engineering would have taken her. She left school to pursue a modeling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, Cindy Crawford took her supermodel assets to New York City in 1986.

To no great surprise, it didn't take long for Cindy to establish herself as a model. After two years, she walked down catwalks for the most prominent fashion designers and posed as a cover girl for fashion magazines. Cindy had become one of the first to enter the elite group of supermodels, along with models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Linda Evangelista.

She had the salary to prove it. In 1988, Cindy made more history as the first supermodel to appear in Hugh Hefner's magazine. Her Playboy spread not only impressed men and sold worldwide, but it led to her 6-year stint as host for MTV's House of Style.

Always the entrepreneur, she launched a series of swimsuit calendars and fitness videos, both tremendously successful. Her business savvy also came in handy when Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson, and Claudia Schiffer invested in the Fashion Café chain. Cindy saw potential in the then-lucrative Planet Hollywood. With contracts for Pepsi, Kay Jewelers, Revlon, Cindy, and her company, Crawdaddy Inc., we're seeing the fruits of her name.

Always one to take risks, Cindy decided to pose for a different kind of cover shoot on the surface of Vanity Fair, posing with the "outed" K.D. Lang. Named the planet's highest-paid model by Forbes magazine in 1995, Cindy set out on more business ventures with her book, Cindy Crawford's Basic Face: A Makeup Workbook. Cindy even ventured into the movies in the 1995 film Fair Game co-starring Billy Baldwin.

Her personal life has been nothing short of exciting. In December 1991, Cindy and Richard Gere were married after a 4-year courtship. Although People Magazine named them the Sexiest Couple Alive, they divorced after 3 years of wedded bliss.

After allegedly being linked to Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer, Cindy became Mrs. Rande Gerber in 1998 and the mother of their son, Presley Walker. Cindy has ventured into every field possible, realizing that the lifespan of a model is relatively short. She is also a massive supporter of leukemia charities (her brother Jeff died from the disease).

Cindy Crawford has proved that a supermodel needs more than beauty to make it in modeling.


last updated October 2022