-> 

v

“The face you have at age 25 is the face God gave you, but the face you have after 50 is the face you earned.” Cindy Crawford, born Cynthia Ann Crawford in 1966 has learned a thing or two about aging beautifully. The (now) 53 year old model, actress, and spokesperson is as lovely today as ever and continues to make her presence felt on the world stage.

 -> 

v

Since first arriving on the fashion scene in the late 1980s, Cindy Crawford has appeared in magazines, print advertisements, music videos, television, and film. She has become a beauty icon, a sex symbol, and an inspiration to women around the world.

While more widely recognized for her supermodel prowess, her acting credits include a variety of music videos including Bon Jovi’s Please Come Home for Christmas; Duran Duran’s Girl Panic!; Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood; and Kanye West’s Wolves.

 -> 

v

When it comes to film, she has made appearances in movies like Fair Game (1995), 54 (1998), The Simian Line (2000), and Body Guards – Guardie del corpo (2000).

Cindy Crawford Early Life and Career

 -> 

v

Cindy Crawford was born in DeKalb, Illinois in 1966. She has two sisters and a brother who died at the age of three to childhood leukemia. While she previously believed her roots to be Germanic, English, and French; an appearance on television’s Who Do You Think You Are? (2013) revealed that she is a descendant of Charlemagne and hails from English nobility.

In high school Crawford took a job at a local store, doing a fashion shoot for the store as part of her work. Then, during her junior year, she got her first cover, in DeKalb Nite Weekly. The positive feedback from this experience is, ultimately, what encouraged her to pursue modeling as a career despite graduating high school as valedictorian and earning an academic scholarship to Northwestern University where she intended to study chemical engineering.

 -> 

v

Crawford only attended one quarter of college before leaving academia behind to pursue a career in modeling. Originally working with Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, she made the move to New York City in 1986 where she signed with Elite New York modeling agency.

From there, her modeling career really took off. She appeared on numerous magazine covers including Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Allure, W, and more. She graced runways for some of the top names in fashion and was the face of numerous fashion campaigns. For a while, Crawford’s face was everywhere. She even appeared, briefly, in the opening credits of the 1987 film, Secret of My Success, starring Michael J. Fox.

 -> 

v

In 1988 and then again in 1998, Crawford appeared, nude, in Playboy magazine and even ranked number five on Playboy’s list of 100 sexiest stars of the 20^th Century.

Crawford even made her own exercise videos, including one for new mothers hoping to recover their bodies after giving birth. She even graced the inaugural cover of George magazine (a political monthly magazine promoting politics as a lifestyle that was founded by John F. Kennedy Jr and Michael J. Berman) dressed as, who else, George Washington during the 1990s. In 2005, that cover was listed as the 22^nd best magazine cover in the previous 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Cindy Crawford on Aging

In 2015, Cindy Crawford released a book together with Katherine O’Leary where she explored her personal and professional evolution and shared pivotal moments and how they impacted both her life and her career. The book, Becoming, was a journey of self-exploration as well as one she hopes will expire continued growth and wisdom in her future. Here’s what she had to say about it, “I want to honor and acknowledge the girl I once was while embracing the woman I am today, and I even look forward to the wise woman I hope I will become in future decades.”

While looking back in the book, she’s not so much reliving her glory days, she believes great things still remain ahead of her. But she does acknowledge the person she was and the journey she has taken, and how that journey continues to impact the woman she’s becoming.

She certainly has a healthy take on aging, one many people wish they could emulate. Other quotes addressing age and beauty from this stunning world-recognized supermodel, who is still stunning at 53, involve the impact it has internally, “You know, one of the great things about getting older is you’re more comfortable in your own skin.” That’s great advice for young girls and teens struggling with everchanging bodies and body image and women who are aging as well.

She even takes a little time along the way to poke fun at her own industry, stating, “At times the pressure to live up to the fashion industry’s expectations feels overwhelming. I can still pull off a miniskirt and 5-inch heels on set – but probably not in real life.”