Christie Brinkley is 63 years old.
This is simply a fact. It isn’t all that interesting on its own.
But it’s downright fascinating and really pretty amazing when you stop and look at the following photo.
Oh, yes, that’s a snapshot of Brinkley and her two daughters posing for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
They will be featured on one of the three covers of this year’s annual, bikini-clad issue of that publication.
Brinkley first graced a SI Swimsuit cover way back in 1979. (She was also featured on the cover in 1980 and 1981.)
She spent the next several years touring the globe, posing for a number of magazines and becoming one of the best known super models on the planet.
But she retired in 2004, only agreeing to put back on her sexy attire for this unique opportunity of posing alongside children Alexa Ray Joel, 31, and Sailor Brinkley Cook, 18.
The issue that features mom and her two daughters will go on sale on February 15.
“My first thought was, ‘At my age? No way!’” Brinkley told People of the shoot, adding:
“When I turned 30, I was like, ‘This is the last time I’m posing in a bathing suit!’ When this issue comes out, I’ll be 63. I thought, ‘Those days are over.’
“But to get to do it with my girls, I thought, ‘One last go!’”
The beautiful family members are posing above in Turks & Caicos.
And even though Sailor looks amazing, she shared this photo on her Instagram page with a lengthy, pointed and personal caption attached to it.
“I grew up not loving how I looked and felt held back because of it,” the teenager wrote.
“I don’t know why I always felt that way… sure I had baby fat and definitely went through a plethora of awkward phases, but I had a family that loved me I had friends who made me laugh etc.
“But for some reason I still looked in the mirror and always somehow found something to pick on.”
The 18-year old went on to say that she went from “too fat” to “too thin” to “too muscular” and was never satisfied with what she saw in the mirror.
“Recently I have been liberated,” she wrote, explaining:
“I am healthy, I treat myself well, and for that I’m happy. I’ve looked in the mirror and been able to LOVE the things about my body that beauty norms deem ‘undesirable.’
“I now have grown to know that my body is worthy of so many great things. I don’t need to be a size 0 to believe in myself. My body carries me each and every day, it loves the people I love, it holds what makes me healthy and strong, it bends it shakes it runs and it CHANGES.
“That is okay and that is beautiful.”
Amen, Sailor!
Alexa, who tragically attempted suicide in 2009, also took to Instagram on Tuesday to comment on the family snapshot.
“I don’t have a completely flat tummy, or cellulite-free thighs … nor am I a model’s height or shape,” she wrote on her account.
“Neither are hundreds of millions of other beautiful women out there. SO WHAT?
“All of those unrealistic-looking, photoshopped images are nothing more than white noise, playing off of your own insecurities in order to make a buck.
“Don’t let them affect you. DO YOU! We are all perfect, just as we are.”
You raised your daughters well, Christine.
Well done, all three of you.