All right, let's do this. How are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies? What the fuck is yours? What the fuck's the balls?
Well, that one was out probably still is out. Yeah, let's weave it out. All right, relax, Mark. Okay, I will I mark Marin.
This is WTF my podcast today on the show. I talked to Cindy Crawford the the supermodel that was a dominant presence Everywhere on the planet earth for a decade or so when I was a younger not so young that I was impressionable But for those of you who are you know probably in your mid to late 30s I think she probably holds a place there somewhere in your little prepubescent or just barely pubescent brain that Cindy Crawford Well, she was here with me. She has a book out. It's called Cindy Crawford becoming some memoir with a lot of picks And I talked to Cindy Crawford because I could wait you want to talk Cindy Crawford?
Yeah, I would like to sit across from Cindy Crawford and talk to her So that's gonna happen in a while You know I denials a weird thing denial is is something we all have it's something I think many of us whether we know it or not it's some sort of survival mechanism You can't take it all in you know You can either you know close the you know close the valve down shut the lens a little bit adjust the F-stop or just you know Kind of you know lube all that with some mild denial to whatever degree of denial You want we all got a little bit of it even if we think we don't it's there and you know whatever the case But this is sort of basic Basic denial. I know I kind of got into this gas leak situation that I had I got this this new driveway as some you know I spent a lot of money on it rain pretty heavy the other day day before yesterday and the rain doesn't gather sandbags are gone Drainage is working fine coming off the roof. There's a French drain in front of this beat-up garage beautiful But a couple weeks ago I mentioned that there might be an issue with the driveway because for a few weeks I was smelling gas out in front of my house. I called the gas company And they came over and there's a fucking problem with it There's a leak inside the pipe between the house where it goes into the cement into my new driveway down the driveway Into the main valve in the street There's a leak somewhere in there and the guy starts drawing these squares where he's gonna jackhammer into my new fucking driveway To get to the pipe and I'm like what I just got this driveway you can very even enjoy it yet And then you can drill a fucking square into it.
He's like yeah, we got a guy I got good contractor fills it in I'm like he's gonna be able to match The the grain of concrete like that does a pretty good job like and they're like we're paying for it You know it's our line I'm like, you know, but I just cut this but you know and it was in that moment where I had this sort of a revelation that might be helpful I don't know my first place that my brain would go in a situation like this of course this shit happens to me Why me that's that's where my brain goes but then I did this more processing and I'm like hey, you know It's an old gas line They didn't know maybe it's took some loose when they're laying the driveway who knows who's fault it is all pipe whatever So I shifted slowly with some minor fits of anger and rage. I shifted from why me to you know what that's life happens Better it's better. You don't know what the fuck is gonna happen I mean it's just they might have to drill all my driveway and lose a foot you know what I mean? I mean yes, some people have all the luck sure some people never have to deal with this stuff Some people just step in just you know beautiful piles of gold and shit every day Some people do have all the luck, but everybody dies and those people you know, they're gonna die too This is not shot and for it does not you know, I'm not trying to be optimistic about people dying There's problems everywhere and that's life alright, so not why me that's why Or if you want that's my life But that's what close to why me but anyways the only way that they went up to drill in the concrete is if this guy could run a new line Into the old line and make the corner up because it hits a corner and then goes up to the valve that goes into my house And I didn't know I'd go to work I know what was gonna happen if I was gonna come home to it just a mutilated destroyed Scarred and and pothole new driveway or what you know And I went away for four hours and I get home and there's a guy out in the street in front of my house in a four foot deep hole That's about three feet by five feet.
You know the size of the hole He's in the hole and I'm like what's up? And he goes I did it man. I ran the cable up. We did it.
We're not gonna have to drill and I'm like holy shit What I'm one of the lucky ones now. That's beautiful and I go what are you doing in there? He goes well This valve down here that we got to plug the new piece into is from like 1911 and I got to figure out how to and I'm like wait Wait, wait, wait, wait, this day this infrastructure issue is serious shit Like that means it all the fucking pipes that go all over this goddamn city in almost all cities that have any fucking history to him Are from the early 1900s wait 1800s who the hell knows so how do you fix all that? Here's your answer?
You don't you wait till they break one at a time and you just do some patchwork That's how the infrastructure gets fixed. What do you think we're gonna rip everything up to make everything safe and good? Nah, I'll just wait it out. Some of these pipes will surprise you.
That's the infrastructure plan for America Hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it and if it does break open. I hope not too many people get hurt Yeah, yeah, tell that to the people there's a gas week up in the valley just horrendous so Here's what happened This is a surprising thing because I just had that guessing they put a beautiful new valve in it Now know if you ever get this feeling like when you get work done and then there's it's its whole new pretty thing You feel better about it that there's some part of you that thinks you achieve something it's ridiculous But I want to thank the you know Southern California gas for doing that but you know I do feel some part of me Things like I did a thing but I did nothing but even with that here's what happened So my water heater pile was going out this is all within two weeks Kept going out so I had this years guy come over because I don't have one those new pretty little boxes That just does it by magic. I have an old style of water here Kenmore But that you know they have like a long warranty on whatever so the guy comes over to fix the pilot in the new Eaves and I'm gonna smell gas smell gas out there It's in the same room with the cat litter boxes. I'm like fucking gas he smells gas and here's where the knock comes in You know it's going on for days.
I'm like what was going on? How can I go on for that one even the other guess What is it? Well, you know how they say like a lot of people when they get terminally ill it's only because they waited too long to go the doctor You know and we do that you know, it's just sort of like bad that doesn't feel too serious You know, it's gonna wait it out. You know months later.
Oh, it's all over your body You should have come in when you forgot thought it was just nothing It's denial in the way So I think that part of me like that's a ridiculous thing about it I got some of this gas leak in that back room and I kept smelling it I kept walking by and smelling it and part of me was like now, you know, maybe you know, maybe just you know He'll itself somehow maybe you'll maybe just you know, maybe they'll just you know, maybe they'll just uh, you know Where's the there's a leak in the pipe or whatever. You'll just you know scab over and you know, you know, it could get better could get better You know, it's called guys the machine charge the equipment He came over and it's like guys I tighten the thing that you don't know about and that's why, you know, we have a job You're not allowed to know about it. So now that's gone So watch the dial could be dangerous in a lot of ways your house generally will not heal itself your body will but you know, You should don't wait too long. You're sick.
Is that the point? Is that what I was working towards? I'll read a couple emails. Okay, let's just read a couple and I'll do another thing that we'll do Subject line interesting.
I've been tempted to write several times and I've only listened to about five recent shows Nothing quite felt right even if I bothered to write it out Identifying with you or a guest compliments, etc Nothing quite fit because I had a feeling that was more ambiguous at the end of each show which made the happy thought I wanted to express seem dishonest then I realized about five minutes ago what it was There's no spin for me to compensate for it's the David Spade interview that sealed it I never knew much about him But I always liked him after that interview there were things about what he said and how he behaved that left me unsettled I finally realized that the lack of spin made the interaction real that word is so abused He put in parentheses and gave me a new view of him as a person with normal person flaws And that is what the unsettled feeling is at the end of several years shows You have let me see a part of the humanity of people who I normally would only get to see the spin version of maybe I've let myself be Conditioned to looking for the spin version. Thank you regards Chris Okay, well, yeah, this spin is an interesting word for it, but yeah I mean some people yeah, there's a polished sort of promotional version of people a public I think the public persona is what you're talking about when you say spin and I appreciate that that's a nice email I appreciate that This is another touching one. These are touching just some guy dot dot mark I know a lot of people must contact you through this medium providing input or commentary on your podcast This isn't really that at all. I discovered you on my Netflix account under a title called thinky-pain That's my first special for Netflix.
I didn't know what the fuck I was in for when I opened this comedy special But I decided to just try it out I was gonna give you about ten minutes of my attention This wasn't me being judgmental against you. I just get a bit antsy on some things Watching TV is one of those things so I press play in its starts ten minutes 20 minutes time just goes by for that hour So that you were doing your thing. I wasn't me for that hour I didn't have that tar black looming thunderstorm like cloud called depression raining despair upon me for that hour I totally ignored that feeling of loneliness that you can only get when your girlfriend moves four states away from you Thus causing you to end the relationship your best friend that has been your right-hand man for close to six to eight years Just up and leaves and it's just you and a cold bedroom by yourself in the basement of your mom and dad's house for that hour I saw someone who I could relate to thank you since then I've delved into the research of comedy Hicks Bruce Carlin and even Sam Kennison with his don't feed the hungry bit LOL Congratulations, you've converted another mind to idolizing the greats keep helping others like me man You're doing a lot of damn good in this world just by being you so you better keep that shit up talk to you later Nate boomer lives P.s. I was wondering if you could provide any input for practicing guitarist got any tips or tricks of the trade Yeah, have fun, man, and thanks for the email.
Maybe feel good. I'm glad that you appreciate what I do I'm glad to help out anyway, I can man All right, we'll read this one boomer lives subject line strange thing having the other day I think it was a strange Pavlovian response to years of listening to WTF I was playing guitar while my family was in the other room and upon the completion of a noodle riff I'd made up I played a beefy E chord and then I had to fight an overwhelming urge to shout boomer lives So thanks mark maren for instilling in me the belief that all bluesy riffs and not in a turnaround or a chord But in a shout of invocation to your cat mascot. I'm not saying I didn't like the response It amused me. I just wasn't up for the explaining that would have to happen.
Love you mark. Keep it up. Okay, buddy. That's from Eric This one I found to be provocative Smells and intimacy hello mark your comments over the holidays about how intimacy ranges from the sublime to the grotesque Including the smelly stuff brought to mind what I call the rule of shit and that's in quotation marks folks I think all the best things in life involve shit people shit cat shit dog shit, baby shit food grows and shit No shit, no life things that don't shit or don't grow and shit.
Maybe don't matter so much money doesn't shit the internet Maybe shitty but doesn't shit try to appreciate the shit in your life It may be the product of something good or fertilizer to grow something good. Thanks for the intelligent comedy Leslie in Connecticut You're welcome. That was not a shitty email Alright, so in preparation to introducing the guest subject line Holy grizzly Adams tribute Hi mark Just looking at the two photos in this week's WTF email So I'm wondering a if your beard normally grows super fast Okay He's looking between the two photographs the one of me and my mind and then one of me and Cindy Crawford Hey If your beard normally grows super fast be if you did the first interview a while ago or see if your beard was visibly growing during the Second interview due to the burly flood of Bruce Banner like hormones provoked by having Cindy. Oh my god Crawford in your garage Looking good homes Dan.
That's what happened. It was awkward. I was surprised you didn't say anything I just sat here, you know, I turned beet red and my beard started growing. She said nothing So let's go now to my conversation with Cindy Crawford her book becoming his memoir with pics Cindy Crawford and me now So you drove all the way in from the mouth.
Yeah, and was it bad? It just was longer than I all right then I well I gave myself an hour and a half and it took an hour and a half I like to be really and do you live like on the beach? I do really? Yeah, how I feel if there?
Uh, we lived full-time in Malibu for 12 years. Is it like um, like I don't you know to go there is like you coming here It's like I have to pack a bag and tent sweeping bag, but uh, but it's sort of weird and isolated out there I mean, yeah, it is like the town like I've been there a couple times you go to the store and I just figure all you people know each other out There you kind of start to know everybody which is not it does feel like a small beach town. Uh-huh. Um with very wealthy people wandering around There's there's that but there's also I mean there are there's actually there is economic diversity there You really because there is like those the mobile home parks.
Oh, right, right? Um, and that's where you live, right? Surprisingly actually a lot of people they're really nice. Yeah, I'd like to go and there's and I don't think they get the tornadoes Which is right?
No tornadoes. Just maybe a slightly windy no tornado, but so yeah, there's a little diversity down there Well, and it's a great place for us to raise our kids. We got like um, it's not it because it is out there Yeah, you don't come into town right much right right and so even for my husband and I we think and we really need to go to that dinner now We'll just stay home. So it kind of um, see loose friends, but you're okay It's nice.
You make more malibu friend your malibu friends become really important And you end up spending more time with your family which was a conscious decision that we made how many kids you have two And then the so you're you everyone's there and you spend a lot of time with them. That's good Do you see bob Dylan walking around? I have seen bob Dylan there not for a while I saw him a long time ago like one of my first times in malibu I was at a party at sandy gallons house and he was sitting in a chair And it was just so surreal. It's funny when you have like those celebrity moments Oh, yeah, because I don't care who you are.
There's still like certain people that are like oh, yeah for you like It's like oh my god, it's bob Dylan or paul newman or people like that. Did you see paul newman? I did well you're pretty big celebrity yourself. I imagine it goes both ways.
I imagine that bob was happy to see you I don't know he's even pretty much in his own world that day So we're just you paul newman. I saw paul newman at a Broadway show and um, I was like, you know Just take my eyes off him But then I actually had the opportunity to meet him with a friend of mine Who is involved in his charity and I got to hang out in his trailer on a movie and that was really cool because then you know Everyone has their like public persona And it's nice and you know, you kind of have to do that to protect yourself too when you're out But it's nice when you get to see people like in you know at home or in their own environment where they're where they don't have the Right the facade of it's like well not also that generation like he's passed away and bowie passed away I know it's starting to happen that that crew. I mean all paul newman was older, but like bowie's crew Now we got to watch I mean we're almost you're a little younger than me, but but you know those were our people Yeah, they are our cultural icons, right? Yeah, now they're it's so horrible because you know all of a sudden It's sad that they go but then you start to think about your own trip, you know I know did you ever meet bowie when you were in New York?
Come on. You must have I don't have like that Moment with him that I remember right, you know certain people you remember the first time you met them I saw them like I remember meeting warm baby. I remember meeting Jack Nicklissing like you remember You know cuz whatever their words I met him with her Brits who was a photographer that I worked with a lot Did a lot of the big pics of you, huh? Yes, and her had he was like he loved getting people together He would have small gatherings like 30 people in New York.
No here. He said he's LA guy. Yeah, I'm born and raised and still around No, yeah passed away right passed away probably about 10 years ago. Yeah, so he was yeah He was like these crazy barbecues and it could be like Madonna John Kennedy junior Tracy Chapman I mean just like you know Jack Nicholson or Warren Beatty would be like such an eclectic group of people and her really everyone loved her and then his mother would kind of hold court and Herbs mom.
Yeah, yeah, so it was cool And did you like well that it's so weird that like that experience of being at a party like that or being anywhere with that type of group of people because I realized not long ago that they really can only hang out with each other It's not like they can just you know what I mean? They can't just be among the regular population that easily so for them to be comfortable among a group of people It has to be people like them in a way I think there is something about like you feel like you can let your guard down right because it's kind of like you know Everyone is invested in what happened. You know, it's like that what happens in Vegas days in Vegas Yeah, no, it's changed because every I mean anywhere you go everyone has a cell phone anywhere you go You could be being filmed at any time and it could end up on TMZ I sense a swipe bit of anger and that well, it's just it's horrible I think that's part of the reason like it's not so much that like I'm always like models are people too or celebrities are people too right but It's because of that like I would love to be able to just go to the beach And no one and be a regular person right but then there's like the one idiot with the cell phone Right that's trying to get a bad picture. I mean it's like a bad picture.
That's the worst of it, right? Well, it's okay good ones, but you know it seems like the bad ones are More interesting more probably like it more for look at her. Yeah, well you had that problem like a year ago with that leaks photo, right? It wasn't leaked and retouched.
It wasn't just it wasn't a real picture Well, I mean, but then I came up with this whole idea that no pictures real if you think about it Okay, because sure it's a representation. Yeah, and it's like it's all manipulated. It's mediated. It's an image It's where the light is right, you know Like I was saying to someone like if I'm doing selfies of myself and I take it and I go the lighting's terrible But if I go like turn toward the window the thing's better.
That's the one I'm gonna pose sure it's the same me right? Yeah, yeah Yeah, so oh, yeah, there are moments where you I just realize like pictures are not what was it deal with that what happened? Um, I don't really know actually it just got out in the world. No, it didn't just get out in the world And no one actually knows but I think the photographer doesn't even know I mean I'm still friendly with him.
I still work with him Um, but he said he didn't know and he actually was really upset about it because it used to be when you do a photo shoot right? 99 out of the hundred pictures are probably not that great right? That's why they take so many and then they would edit those and end up in the trash and then they would pick the best one right now with digital Like someone and this is what I think might have happened is someone might have walked by the monitor because like as you're shooting now It's coming up to a big monitor right right and taking a picture from the monitor And then you can you know look we retouch all the time to make us look better You have a pimple or a bag under your eye or beauty of it But you can also Photoshop to make people not look worse and and the photographer showed me the the well quote unquote the real image Yeah, I mean it depends what monitor you're right. You know, I mean, I don't even know so really It really made me just realize the whole thing is illusion good and bad But wasn't he like that wasn't a tricky in the sense that you know from what I understand I'm certainly not trying to stir anything up but but like that there was sort of this championing of you know Why would Cindy be you know uncomfortable with this image of her without being touched up?
She's so amazing. So you have all these women saying and then you have to be like well, it's intrusive It was I didn't say anything because I didn't there there was an outpouring from women who were like You know, she's real like us and whatever and I don't want to reject that but at the same time It wasn't quote unquote real or or maybe I don't know what I just thought and I unfortunately there might have there was certainly people who Genuinely were championing me but there were also the snarky people and the worst and so you kind I just I just didn't because I was like What can I do? Yeah, do I have to go on good money America and pull my shirt up and go? I didn't know and even there if depending on the lighting they could I could retouch abs I could have a six-pack Yeah, well hard with high definition now to hide.
Yeah, but good lighting. Yeah, it's really all about lighting sure It's all about lighting it is right it totally is and what I was looking for your book And it seems like in terms of you're talking about lighting that the book is more of a it's almost like a tribute to the photographers you worked with Well, there's there's a big section which is honoring those guys that were my mentors both good and bad I mean some some of the photographers I learned hard lessons from yeah, but most of them I learned about modeling and other life lessons so one section of the book and it's called the image makers Those are the guys that really shaped me not only as a model, but you know, yeah as kind of a woman and a professional Oh, really? Yeah, that's because you did you can't it wasn't your and its expectation to be a model I didn't even know it was a real job. I mean I grew up in you know a very small town outside Chicago My farm town well, it was surrounded by cornfields, but there was a university there so it was kind of a it's a small town Right it was a small town and your dad was what he was when I was he worked for my my grandfather Yeah, then he was an electrician then he was a glazer which we used to think that we told my sister he worked for dunking donuts So he made glass with a glazer put glass in buildings.
Okay. Okay, I think that's what he told you really was glazing the donuts Yes, you know what stuff and my mom didn't work while we were really little and then she went to work like in a doctor's office So, you know, we were definitely You know lower class working working class collar. Yeah, yeah, and you had what one sister? I have no I had an older sister Yeah, I have a younger sister and I had the youngest and her family was a brother who died Oh, that's when he was when we were all kids, but he was the youngest.
You remember that? Yeah, I was 10 when he died Oh, it's horrible. Yeah, I was devastating for my whole family and only when I Had my own kid could I understand how that must have been for my parents? Because you know, you knew it was sad, but I'm still only 10 and you know, your life kind of right goes on Yeah, I don't know how my my mother went on like for me That's like I she I always have been you know, she's always been one of my heroes But after becoming a mother myself and realizing how she just like got up the next day and made breakfast for the other three of us because We were there right she had to the depth of the grief that you couldn't really wrap your brain around to now Softly, but are they still around my sister's are yeah, I just saw them at Christmas.
Uh-huh your folks now My mom I actually have two grandmothers still alive. Come on. Yes. One is most probably gonna I think she just turned 97 and she lives in decalp still with my aunt and then my other grandmother's 93 and she lives by herself in Florida She drives she does try so watch out.
No Ramona if you're listening you're very good. Um, and that's amazing No, I went to visit her in the spring and I was like so who cleans your house? She goes What do you mean who cleans my house? She goes I do but I can only do one room a day now.
I'm just breaks it up Amazing good genetics. Yeah, so that's a while two grandmothers both my parents. It's a very blessed Yes, and you're and you and you have your own good terms with everybody I am I mean, I'm I've always yeah, well, I'm on great terms with everybody even I there was a time with my dad that it was more Disconnected just because you know, he he was the one who really left my mother and I was in our high school Oh, they're not together No, and I think you know, we were mad at my dad and we were very protective of my mother And I do think looking back part of my dad's kind of acting out was probably his grief over losing his son He just created a different way than my mother did also. There was a like he was out doing the business.
Yeah, and other things Yes, he knows I've talked about this on the radio before so sorry dad, but we worked hard to Have a relationship now. Um, we never were had no relationship It wasn't like going and screaming no or like where we didn't talk for five years But we've gotten we always talk but you know, I I guess I lost respect for my dad Yeah, and and then we had to come back together in a way where I might as great anyone who meets my dad They're like he's the greatest guy ever and he is very Those guys who act out are usually very charming. Yeah, exactly. They got to have a little game exactly Yeah, but that's good So you know you worked it out I mean I think just by virtue of living long enough and having your own life and you know when you really don't need your parents for anything practical That you know, it's really up to you to make it right exactly exactly Yeah, and I you know, I saw I think me having my own like you said I didn't need any like my financial independence right from my family which happened very young and in fact I was helping you know, the shift it sure which to the other foot at one point where I was helping them But that does help you I mean look I like you want your storybook wedding and and marriage and you do want your daddy to have all the answers and your mom You'd always be there to give you a hug and that doesn't always work out that way And then you figure out the real life version of those relationships, right?
Yeah, it's the worst It is like sometimes you get mad at like the film industry or the songs because they paint this Unrealistic vision of what life is supposed to you know, like a relationship aren't supposed to be hard Right, I mean any relationships are my relationship my dog is hard. Oh, yeah, you know, yeah my cats like that same thing It's weird. I mean, I don't you have bad relationships, but like an animal gets fucked up You're like, oh my god, we're just like when they doing things you can be annoyed You still love things and be annoyed by them I just had a buy new carpet because of them. Yeah, I buy a new couch But I'm the same light it's interesting that you know it modeling gets a lot of a little bit of flak for Creating illusion of what people or women should be and right?
I mean you dealt with that early on as well, too You know, well, I think like going back to what we were talking about for I mean if what I came Through that whole thing with that. Yeah, sure a year ago what I came to realize is that photography is an art Yeah, and all the choices that photographer makes from how does he where does he put the light when does where does he put the camera? What angle when does he click the shutter? Which one does he choose to say?
This is the one that represents my vision. It's an art. It's not so like if a painter paints a picture of a beautiful woman You don't go that's an unrealistic right right? It's like it's their fantasy version of whatever they're painting sure and that is what photography and fashion photography is as well So it shouldn't really be taken too literally and I think that I mean now everyone knows because even like my 14 Your daughter knows how to face to in something for her snapchat or not chat.
I guess you can't do that a snapchat Instagram I'm Instagram so I don't do snapchat because One thing that's an Instagram all of a sudden became not cool because the moms were doing it now now my daughter's like I'm so over Instagram and I'm like I just finally getting it. That's why I'm leaving Right that happen with Facebook Twitter seems to elude most grownups, which is good. Yeah, I think the people I know that use Twitter is more for like news like what's happening right in the second right right right? Yeah, I use it for my ego validation.
Oh good. Nice to have that constant feedback from strangers It's always good well I understand what you're saying about that and also like I think that it seems like your generation of of those first That wave of supermodels for and you you were different than most models right? You were not emaciated you were you look healthy? It was like a new whole new thing.
Yeah, but you know fashion. It's like a pendulum right so I go from Marilyn and wrote a twiggy and Everything in between so like our generation it was about being strong and having a real body and But that can only go one place which is back to Kate Moss, you know who was like a deer in headlights And that's you know Kate eats. She's not right. That's just how her body looks and I mean for me what?
Where I think fashion should be going or you know how fashion is portrayed is more all encompassing that Kate Moss can be beautiful and Marilyn Monroe You know like that it's everything like it and especially now that I have a daughter and I see her watching what's you know Oh right in in the moment. She's 14. Yeah, that's when it all happens right she's very much watching like Gigi and Kendall Jenner and Carolee claus and all these people and I see how She's measuring herself against them and that's why it's important to to have it broader because not everyone is 5 10 And not everyone is you know some girls like now It's funny like my generation it was like you didn't want a big booty But now all of a sudden yeah because of you know the popularity of the Kardashians It's like now that's in style which is great if you have a big booty But now these girls that don't know they feel bad about you know it's like it's just crazy It's like it's all relative to the trend at the moment Yeah, so when you were what was the plan though when you were you know growing up in that little town I mean what you were I mean you were a good student right and you were like on the trajectory for some other yeah I was good at school. Yeah, I mean it's a skill.
I can school. It doesn't necessarily correlate to learning Well correlates to learning what they put in front of you know like I just see like school is like I have a good school brain Like you give me material. I can retain it fairly easily. I can regurgitate it.
Yeah discipline though any study Yeah, yeah, I mean I didn't have to kill myself. I just did the homework. Yeah, but I was a good student and then I Did feel at a certain point and I talk about it in my book Yeah, that at there was a student teacher who like at the end of her four month student teaching our class She gave every kid like a award like that she made up like most likely to whatever whatever and she put on mind future Miss America Yeah, and it was funny because it wasn't something I ever cared about being Miss America But what was impactful to me is that she She dreamed big for me. Yeah, she it was like planning the seed like wow like someone else thinks that I could maybe be Miss America So I'm allowed to dream big because I think you know kind of that Midwestern Protestant mentality is like this guy is falling safe for a rainy day You know do safe don't take chances.
It's very different than the way my husband was raised in New York And so this was like oh oh that I can dream big so then I started thinking I wanted I knew I wanted to do something So the biggest jobs that I could think of at the time where nuclear physicists just right sounded good sure and first woman president And then in high school when I graduated and I got an academic scholarship into Northwestern, but I had to go into engineering So I just was like Electrical electrical I picked chemical because I'm like well I'm gonna come okay But I didn't know what was next But I that was a way for me to go school free and like while I was figuring it out And then I only went for like the first half of freshman year And then my modeling career really took off and I left like in high school that where you like you know you must have been hot I mean what were you doing in high school you driving around did you have bad boyfriends? No, I had a great high school. I had a guy when I went out with a quarterback, you know I'm bad you're that girl, but it wasn't like in my school the Judge you know, I was definitely not the quarterback. I was a guy going like fuck that guy Who is a girlfriend?
I was a little bit in my school like that I was definitely in like the you know like the in-group right? No, okay girls in my Adam. No, no No, I would have been but girls in my school that were really like considered like the hottest ones Yeah, we're more like the cheerleaders like a little cute I'm still friends with really good friends with two of them that were two of the cheerleaders yes, and they were twins Uh-huh, and so I was friends with them, but yeah, they were like the homecoming queen they were the cheerleaders and all that But but I was you know friends with them and I had a great time in high school I but I also did have some like the more like the calculus friends to you know I kind of had like a few of them what you can move through both worlds. Yes Yeah, and then I graduated and yeah, and then I was already modeling in high school toward the end for what oh well in Chicago There's a lot of catalog there, so I started with Marshall Field's here Oh really?
Yeah, I could I mean the thing about Chicago is you can have a working career as a model there I could have I and I met several women there were few years older than me that you know They were working every day doing catalog and had like a normal Midwestern life But you weren't gonna be in Vogue you weren't gonna do those big right you know campaigns how soon after you started doing the smaller Camping so you were like just just at high school when you started no I started so my senior year of high school I was I was working pretty a lot already and what you go on the weekends to shoot and I would go I did my High school classes in the morning right and then I would drive into Chicago and I would model probably three or four afternoons a week How long did it take before you were like I'm gonna be on Vogue? Like when did you realize like all right so this is the hierarchy? This is the job, you know, this is this is the biggest you can get here Yeah, well what I noticed is there was this one photographer in Chicago Victor Skirmesky He's still alive and I'm friendly with him now And he was like the big fish there if you were working with Skirmesky in Chicago You were doing like the best jobs that you were those jobs. He was like I'm Agnine He actually shot a stay water too, so he he shot town and country So he did shoot some national things more than these other guys and I was working for him every day But I noticed when he had good really good jobs He would fly in the New York girls and that's what they were called the New York girls and like the Chicago girls We didn't even get to eat lunch We had like our own little place that we ate lunch with the New York girls got to eat with Victor They got to wear the best clothes It was like Iman who was married to the Joey yeah, I'm Diane DeWitt Andy McDowell There was you know they would come in and they were the New York girls and I was like wait I want to be a New York girl because they got all the you know they got the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah So I didn't think about Vogue, but I did think okay.
I'm I think I want to be a New York girl So that kind of didn't happen overnight. I mean my New York agency would be calling me who was one elite at the time I wasn't ready to leave like I felt very so you were signed with a local agency hand with elite well Okay, so they snapped you up pretty quick. Yeah, I just want to get everybody Yeah, so what was there was a lead in Ford and will mean and that was that there was a few others But those were the big players at the time right? Uh-huh, and so this guy Victor Uh-huh so you didn't you know how quickly did you sort of take to the camera?
I mean obviously you look the way you look but I mean there's a whole process oh you learn I'm still learning I'm a much better model today than I was even am I let's say you know payday just because I'm more confident I know how to work in front of the camera more I mean it is a there's a skill to modeling as well as just a genetic, you know sure that you want a lottery Well, yeah, there's and there's different skills to there's like runway and there's other things. Did you do much of that? I did yeah, yeah because I can I have this weird Connection to it in that the my first wife quit modeling and she was pretty good. You know she became that guy But she was she went into comedy and into show business and away from me, so I became that guy too The one that scared the model away, but but what was interesting to me though was that I think she could have had a pretty good career She was in Italy with our money and doing runway stuff But the lifestyle just was like she couldn't it was devastating to her it can be and I think one of the things that saved me Well my midwestern upbringing, but also I did not really start spending time in New York in Europe until I was 20 already Mm-hmm, so I and I so I you know graduated high school.
I had that like in my pocket I was valedictorian I feel that gave me a certain amount of self-esteem valedictorian. Yes Marty fans I think I was I shared it with another guy technically I was David Olive I know I didn't make the story then I went to Northwestern so I had the experience of a freshman College and I lived in Chicago on my own for a year and a half before I moved to New York So by the time I moved to New York I was I mean I thought I was a grown up right 20 I mean I was I had had more than if some of the some of the other women that I know that started modeling and they were like Shipped off them along when they were 15. I think they had a harder time with that being you know I mean look there's a lot of there is pitfalls in any business. It just seems like there's a that it's pretty Brutal on you know maintaining your you know what you think is what you are like I mean I think the eating disorder thing was a problem and and also you know drugs become a problem and and the fact that you know You're really seen as in some ways it seems to me in some circles that you're sort of seen as play things for rich people Right well I think David venture I am a fan of that also and we were talking about it He's like your generation of models was the first time the meat had a say about themselves, but it was so like blunt the meat But you know there was something it's like what I tell models, you know, it's like look this you like your models Yes, but if someone asked my advice, I'm like look this business will use you you better use it back Right you need to be clear about you know, what's right for you right?
Because it'll take like like anything right um so you need to be prepared to kind of say no and then use it back when Opportunity does person itself and not get like I always say and I and I say the book modeling is what I do It's not who I am right I think a lot of people it becomes who they are and they lose their identity Well, yeah, because like what I noticed and these are just my observations, you know from the little experience I have is that you you know people project so much on to you and and just you know looks alone or whatever they want So if you don't have to volunteer much of anything you can just move through like there's a weird power But to that but I imagine it could become pretty tragic because you get insulated and you realize that you know What are they really reacting to and who am I really right? Well, and by the way if you think it's other than the superficial you're kidding yourself I don't get jobs because you're nice or that you show up on time or whatever you get or you're smart You're either selling the product or the magazine or whatever it is or you're not right It doesn't matter, you know, like people always say about casting couches And I'm like I don't even think you could sleep your way on to a cover of oh It's like you're either gonna sell the magazine or you're not You've got to make sense of the lens so when they ask you back. Yeah, it's because you sold it Because they liked you right you sold the magazine for them So they're not doing you a favor right matter if you send flowers or don't send flowers I mean it's nice to say thank you for opportunities, but it's business. Yeah, and you got it You got to know that yeah, and you have to realize like it is it is brutal like you are totally being judged on how you I mean it's a job.
So like you have to be okay with that And it I think depending on how you were raised and depending on how young you are and what other Self-esteem boosters you have in your life it can be brutal, but you saw a lot of people fall the wayside imagine a lot of tragedies or no I didn't my husband always sees me because he's like you're so naive and you because like I don't do drugs So I'm completely oblivious when other people are really I can't believe you didn't see that I'm like what yeah, so I I that helped you too fairly I think so because and also because I wasn't that girl people weren't offering it to me You know it was just like I guess it was going on oh come on no honestly when did you get to New York in 80? I move their full-time in 86 Well, so really so but you started going there in what 84 well that's interesting because a lot of that shit was sort of a Little tapering off and a little more quiet yes You know like dance at area in 54 and all that shit was over yeah Yeah, I never went to studio 54 while I might have been in it as a space But I never went there like when I was in New York it was like now's in limelight and area No, I mean honestly Yeah, now's an area. I'm always the other one Wait, I did drugs all those places and I don't even dance. Did you ever go to peggy shoes?
Yeah, that was fun for sure Yeah, what was it was there was a theme there was like on university? Yeah, yeah, that was right it wasn't too big it was like like a huge club where you just get lost I just remember when I was like because we are literally around the same age that when that was going on You know I would go with these expectations and you get there and it's like oh, it's just another crowded room I mean it's like a year's Eve. Yeah, it's always like new year's Eve in those places. Yeah, it is always exhausting I know what people did there.
You don't talk so you don't talk no so if you don't go with a crew of people Well, how are you gonna have fun? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah, that's me But I mean you must have like not only like when you talk about Nicholson and these people you were certainly running in circles where like How close were you with the other who was your group?
I know it was who were the group of models that you guys go with I know in the her right right Turtlington Linda van der Lee's den Aomie Campbell Stephanie Seymour. Yeah, Deanna Pitez I mean there was a gale Elliott who was you know was and still is a really close friend of mine You guys are like rock stars you like it was like it was like super models and athletes There was some sort of correlation between it seemed the popularity culturally. Yeah, it was a moment for models for sure Where it was like and you know, I I do talk about how that David Fincher Freedom 90 video that he did for George Michael really likes. I don't know like that really cemented that whole that was Yeah, I know before right.
He was doing music videos before he was able to manifest his dark vision under the world But that's where you tell you grew up you built a relationship with him or you got to know Well, I actually had done some commercials with him really yeah, you know They all start doing commercials or videos and then you know, I mean it's certainly taking it. Yeah, yeah He's a good filmmaker Yeah, so you think that was sort of the beginning of the rock star I think it culminated it because just culturally what was going on with MTV and music and fashion was colliding and also at the time You know, it wasn't like now where there's like 500 channels on right It just cable was just coming and all of a sudden there was more hunger for content Yeah, so it was it was a chance because you know, I talk about like on MTV before I did House of Style on MTV The only fashion you could see on TV was Elsa clench CNN which was it already? I mean amazing that fashion was being covered on TV, but it was being covered in a very CNN sterile covering the collections and you know, whatever and then with MTV We did it in a very MTV kind of way which was more, you know We had relationships because of me with designers and with great photographers and stuff so we could cover cool things But we did it in a way like You know to democratize it and make it like showing Naomi Campbell putting Zik Karim on or going to Sears with Simon Lebahn And and you know just kind of making fashion not so Alitist right and also I think it was probably one of the first true reality shows, right? I mean, I don't think they were really doing it on scripted drama.
Yeah, well, you know, we know that they're a bit scripted But I mean that the humanizing element yes of this sort of mysterious and seemingly snobby or elite industry was because models were like I don't you know, look, I've been duped Like, you know, like I you know, there is something there's a fine line there there you guys are kind of um freaks of nature in a way Hmm. I'm saying that's like an athlete. Yeah, no, exactly. That's what I mean like, you know when you see like a model There's that moment you're like, oh my god.
There's one of them like I used to I used to live on sixteenth and And like a third and there was an apartment where all these models were live model apartment Yeah, right and I would I would walk outside I felt like I was like witnessing some you know endangered species or some unique animal like oh, they're out Look at they're walking on the street, right? But but I think that people make that assumption that that you guys are are you know, snobs or don't have personalities And I think that show was the first to really kind of get behind that Yeah, and then the model of that show became used for all for a lot of different industries Yeah, but were you guys all friends? I mean, it's like any business or any office right? There's something you really are close to and some that you are entertained by but maybe you wouldn't want to you know Go on vacation with them.
There's some that you really are you know, that you just roll your eyes out or whatever It's it's you get the gamut of everything It's like, you know, no more or no less than if you took a hundred people yeah Yeah, right right it's it's like when people say like, you know comics seem to have more drugs and alcohol problems I'm like really have you looked at plumbers or anybody else right? I mean everybody's just you're gonna have issues right with other people Right. I mean many certain careers foster right there's access in a different way, but no I mean, I I'm still friendly with you know, like I just did a shoot with Claudia Shiffer Oh, yeah And Naomi Campbell for a balm on and what was amazing was I mean because now especially Claudia and I like we have families and kids The kind of competition is over like we both won right? Okay, so it's kind of like it's it's like we could just enjoy each other as women It wasn't like I remember being 20 years old and like backstage at a show and like you're checking out You know everyone's checking each other out because we're all just insecure young women, right?
Like you hit the runway you mean? Yeah, you're all changing backstage right? You know everyone's just wearing a tiny thong so you really can't hide anything and everyone's like checking each other out And I felt like it was really nice reconnecting with Claudia And I've seen her you know years But we had spent a whole day together and we had a lot of time in the dressing room and it was just like just talking like Girlfriends like kids and yeah And school and travel and and you know I have that with Christy Turlington. I have that with my friend Gail So and then he's married to a film that yeah, yeah, they're still together.
That's good Yeah, it's interesting when people are able to manage a marriage. Yeah, she's a great woman and very she's smart and she's very philanthropic and I'm you know, she's a she's I think she might be five years I'm really but I'm I feel like a little bit like a big sister I'm so proud of everything that she's done in her life beyond modeling because modeling is a great platform But it's kind of like if that's all it is for you and you don't take it take advantage of it Then you're just like, you know, I don't want to be I'm turning 15 next month And I don't want to be that woman like trying to be 25 when I'm 50. Yeah, I had a great 25. Yeah, I'd agree 20 I'd agree 30.
I want to have a great 50 and a great 55, you know, I don't want to be nostalgic for my glory days I mean I celebrated I honor them I celebrate that but I don't want to be stuck there Well as somebody starting 50 and as somebody who you know still is visible You know culturally and and and dealing with you know what women deal with it 50 and the idea that you don't want to you know You know try to you know, you know, maybe look 25 or whatever you want to accept your age I would like to look 25. I'm just saying I don't want to try like I'm trying to look 25. I just did that would be awesome But do you is there a way because I like again going back to the reaction to that photo whether it was real or it wasn't real You know part of the struggle for you sort of cultural acceptance as an older woman is is real, right? Like it's hard.
Yeah, but here's the thing I used to think there was a certain age and I think growing up in the Midwest I thought it was much younger like okay when you're 50 you can just like screw it right whatever I want But first of all that the world doesn't work that way now because like I said, there's the guy with the cell phone camera When you're not so it'd be very exciting for all them if you just wait yourself They would be this is the best thing ever my husband would be so big on that But but but on the other hand there is like all these incredible women like Jane Fonda or Helen Mirren or Viola David, I mean like when I just I'm thinking of the people I saw yeah, yeah, and They I think they all look amazing and they look beautiful like they don't look beautiful for their age Look, they're beautiful women, but I think the aging thing what I'm learning for me anyway is totally an inside job You cannot it you know because look if you don't feel good about yourself It doesn't matter if a hundred people tell you right and and and the opposite is also true like if you feel good and someone doesn't like I don't know where you feel good in it. You feel good. So I feel like for me It's just figuring out how I want to be in that next chapter of my life and and that's my project I mean really that it's I didn't know this at the time but in doing the book I thought yes, it's a celebration and whatever but in some ways way a weird way I also see it's like the end it's like a bookmark on that part of my life because I've done it I did the modeling thing. Yeah, I mean of course I'm still getting at my picture taken because I have my skincare line.
I have omega watches I have and you're Cindy Crawford Well, and I mean that's part of what I do that's my job So but I don't want to have to be like trying to do like cool editorial at a certain point You're like yeah, you're like I don't care. I'm too over. I just feel silly, you know And I have like this 14 year old daughter who's like I always tees her and I wrote in the book I'm like she has my old hair. Yeah, she has my old legs.
I want them back You know I just see her blossom being and I want to I want to leave room for that like I don't want to be competing with my 14 year Old daughter sure you want to be a good role model. Yeah, so it's it is but it is I'm not there yet But that is kind of like my mission I feel like at this point in my life is making that transition into into a 50 year old woman Yeah, and being comfortable with it Yeah, and now we're there pointing your career where because you know modeling obviously doesn't work out as long as it has For you for everyone were there like because it seems like you were you were very You know business minded but there must have been times where you were like fuck this isn't gonna last forever What do I got to do now? Well when I started you know five years was like forever in a model years, right? Yeah, so when I moved to New York at 20 It was like okay, but what am I gonna do when I'm 25?
Yeah, I'm gonna have to have like the backup plan and I thought that's when because I dropped out of my lesson I was like well I can go back to school right now, and I'll probably know more what I want to do And then at 25 things were still full when did you get married the first time I was 26. Yeah, so yeah, how do you look back at that experience? I was young. Yeah, I didn't think I was young though, right?
But I was young and I because I didn't really were you what was it? How long did that last the mayor? I was with Richard for like six years. Oh really?
I was only married for two years. Uh-huh. Are you guys friends still? We're friendly, but I mean I think it's a long time ago I think yeah I mean it's almost like he's not back to being like Richard gear again like a stranger because I we don't really see each other but In asking if we were friends I mean I think part of the problem in our relationship was that we were probably we were a lot of other things But I don't know if we were ever friends like peers because I was young and he was Richard gear and And then as I started kind of growing up and growing into myself It's hard to change the dynamic of a relationship once you're already in it.
Yeah, you know, yeah Yeah, you get locked into those patterns and those triggers and whatever weirdness you have that you always have emotionally Yeah, that's what brought you to go and that's why when people ask me you know advice about because I've been with Randy now Like almost 25 years and saying wow, oh gosh over to what we met. I guess we have we've only been married 17 years But we've been together like three. Yeah, and I say that you know I think why Randy and I really work is that we were friends first. Uh-huh like I never pretended to like baseball or Meditation or whatever, you know, whatever the version is I because I wasn't trying to really like meditation.
I like meeting the dolly But I'm not sure I would have gone and I mean it's what they were great experiences But you know, it's like it's that thing where you're you're on that first date and they're like you're like I love that Right, and you're like and then six months later They're like that's what the baseball game and you're like I hate baseball and they're like what yeah So when you when you are with a friend and you never did that He really showed like your flaws from the beginning I wasn't trying to impress Randy right and he wasn't right he didn't even we got hooked up We had to go to a wedding together, but not his date Just like he was a chaperoning me because I didn't want to go he was yeah But at the time he I mean he modeled briefly in college to make money and meet girls I think yeah, but he already had his first bar at the time. Oh, he's a restaurant to work Yeah, and he had a bar at the whiskey. I mean at the Paramount. Oh, okay.
I had the hotel Yeah, yeah, so we met and he didn't want to really go out with me because he was dating another model And I was like my friend who's wedding I was like well you can go with one of these three guys and I knew the other two and I was like I'm not going with them So I'll take this unknown to her number three was Randy, but he was late picking me up I was like you're late like I was yelling at him like the first time I met him Yeah, I know this one all right, so what so 20 you were like when I'm going to 125 and then 25 25 it kept was like my career was like still going great. I had a cosmetic contract and you know still working a ton So I was like okay, this could maybe last till 30 right 30 same thing I was like okay give it five more years then I started I did have kids and I definitely when my kids were really little I Definitely that's when we moved to LA and I did pull back a little bit But there was still I had contracts I had things that I was doing what you move here lifestyle. Oh, really? Yeah, I just felt like it was a better not better better for us right to raise kids because like yeah, yeah Yeah, you're not like I don't know each other over where you grew up Well, I don't think we would that wasn't even on that option Randy grew up in New York So it had either been New Yorker like we both just decided we like LA But what you're saying basically is that for as long as you're selling magazines or selling makeup or whatever you're gonna work Perpsies or yeah, and you kept being asked back.
Yeah, so you just kept going yeah, and then yeah Did you did you at some point you know how much like when you said you know you're modeling can take but you've got to take from it Was there a point where you know you worked with somebody to sort of kind of become a better business person or how did that sort of happen? Just do partnerships I think a lot of it is I mean I was always a good student So like you're around it's my people marketing advertising and if you just pay attention you can learn a lot And then you know I left at a certain point I left my model agency and went with like a well a William or at the time in the now CAA Because they you know model agencies especially back then they they only looked at you as a five-year career Right and if it wasn't you one of their other models was gonna get it right like they just turned they weren't into developing careers Right they were into using you and I think that that is changing in the modeling industry But at the time they were not there yet right so I switched to an agency out here who really helped me like for instance When I first started working with Omega watches the agent that I was working with our whole thing was like look We don't just want to sleep together right we're gonna sleep together we're getting married maker or three year contract Oh right learning too, and then I knew they were investing in me and I would invest in them and that's kind of how I've approached My business for the last 20 years. It's like I don't want to just do little things here little things here unless they're unless I know what I'm getting on it right and It's worked out and you tried acting I Never wanted to be an actress right and you got to try it when your model right well I can't remember what you do. I did well the funny thing is the first time I ever even had any thought about my acting I was working with Richard Avon and he's like my friend Mike Nichols wants to meet you He was you come audition for a movie and he's like so when we finished the shoot today Just go over his office or whatever and I mean I knew who Mike Nichols was but that's about it Yeah, never had seen a script before never had read like it never did theater or anything So I go and he hands me like the sides which I didn't even know we're called sides at the right and he's like can you read these so I literally am like yeah, I'm You know the most lemon blah blah blah and he's like to his credit is so when he's like well you can read And I realized when he said that what he meant was act them, but he didn't say act that he said read that yeah So to me, I'm very literal person.
I read this one. So that didn't go so well Yeah, what was the movie? You remember the Luxy blues and then I had done and then I got you know I called in on a few auditions for stuff and sometimes I would go but mostly I like I didn't have an acting coach or acting class or anything But then I did do one movie because I knew the producer Joel Silver and he's just very persuasive And he just kept like making sweetening the deal to a point where I was like I'm an idiot if I don't do it right and it was such a Nightmare in a lot of ways, but it was also really a blessing because which movie it's called fair game really Baldwin William Baldwin but At one point the director stopped talking to either one of us so that was like hard because there's no director so mad Yeah, man like that my trailer was bigger than his or I don't know like he didn't have his green I'm an expert was that director exactly he's never he's never done another movie. Oh really yeah He was a first-time director and really and it's funny because I'm friends with Joel But I'm like I can't believe you did that to me put me with a first-time director because it was like you know Swim someone's wrong, you know, right?
I mean you know how to swim you know how to swim you know how to swim you know many guidance and you're used to having people behind the camera that knew What they were doing yes, but it was a gift in the sense that it enabled me to go I'm not comfortable I like being in front of the camera as myself or as some version of myself and I like the storytelling a fashion photography But when you give me lines and I can do if you give me lines that are me talking like hi I'm yeah, I totally look in the camera do that when you give me lines where I'm trying to be somewhere else I get that is just not I feel it completely uncomfortable and Don't like it just doesn't feel good to me. Yeah, I was able to let that go. That's good So you just did the one movie yeah, and was it did it I got to get a really oh my god It got released it got panned I got panned. It was that hard.
I mean do you feel hurt? No, I was only no I was fully expecting it. I mean I'm not stupid so I knew I was setting myself, you know It was me to take a hit I wasn't I don't like I like it was the worst movie ever made and I'm not sure that it was yeah And I'm not even sure I was the worst but I certainly was in over my head That big of a role, but I was only mad because one journalist I was playing like a lawyer Yeah, it really is like action movie So it didn't matter what I did But I was a lawyer in the beginning of the movie and they were like if Cindy Crawford could be a lawyer And I was like I could be a lawyer if I wanted to be a lawyer That was the only thing that pissed me off like the rest I was like yeah, of course they're gonna unless I was I was like I could have been a lawyer. Yeah, right so let's go through idea before we wrap it up Let's go because you have worked with some amazing photographers and I do like the idea of You know like somebody like Richard Avidon who you just mentioned is is a genius really a photography And and you did a lot of shoots with him.
Yeah. Yeah now what what what do you take from working with a guy like that? Well, certainly his professionalism, but I think what I really learned from Avidon was I did my first vote cover with him Uh-huh and he he would shoot with the old cameras that we have to go into the cloth Oh really? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah So he taught me how to bring energy To your face right your expression have a thought in your eye for that second that he was gonna click yeah That's what I learned from him and what about helmet Newton helmet?
Um, you did some pretty racy stuff right with him. Yeah, I mean if you're shooting with helmet here That's what you're doing. That's how he is, you know, again It's his fantasy right but was that something when that happened, you know because that was before playboy And you knew that it was going to be a lot more Maybe not you know fetishy in a way, but his vision. Yeah, was that something you were excited to do?
I was excited to work with helmet. Yeah, not so much the fetish department was for vogue So you knew it was like it couldn't reason it wasn't like hey, it wasn't helmets and hey come do some pictures for my new book Which could be you know, and like I write in the book that I always teased him that he wasn't putting a saddle on me But I like his bit. He loves women He sees them is very strong and very powerful but also like not ashamed of It's like not a sanitized woman or sanitized version of a woman's sexuality. Right now He takes risks.
Yeah, so I and he's a great director. He knows what he wants and you know, you're gonna look amazing so I love working with him and he's got a wicked sense of humor and you know And as did his wife was sometimes around and it just I love working with him And who was he like out of all of them? I mean Irving Penn and some of these guys I don't know Stephen my cell what like who the like did you work with photographers? That just did shitty after a certain point?
We only working with the best or more than months. Oh, yeah, of course you have to work I mean look at a certain level you're not working with anyone who isn't at least good But you have the people that you feel photographed you better you like their style better It's it's hard I only ever left one job once in the middle of a job and it was because the lighting was so bad I look like a jack-o-lantern and I just called my agency And it was like some German catalog or something and I was like I don't there's no amount of money that they are paying me that it's worth it I said you've got to get me out of here and they did credit. Yeah, but normally and especially at the more that you gain Power as a model the bigger that you get it becomes a collaboration like if I don't like something I'll say I don't really like that Yeah, and then they'll work with you and they know that you know what like a lot of photographers say which side is better for you Or what do you want to do that? Yeah, yeah, the side with the mole Well, it's I do actually say sometimes it looks weird if it's not showing or it calls a weird shadow or whatever Oh, really?
So but you do and that's the skill part of modeling the experience of it like I've especially now a lot of the photographers I'm working with younger than me right I can I can be like well or they'll say this is so this is so So evident I'm like mmm Yeah, we got to work with real guys who shot with on film, you know like now that's gone Yeah, all that stuff all that pay Wow and outside of the book. What is the the Cindy Crawford industry up to what do you got going? Well, I have a skincare line that I started gosh almost 15 years ago And is it really good I use it I think right because I you know I collaborated with a doctor in Paris that I was his client So I'm yeah, oh, I knew him I've known him since I was 28 I make up artist introduced me to him And then we started the line we started working on it When I was 35 when my Revlon contract was up for renewal and I decided to do my own thing You're gonna go you're gonna be a little guy up against the big guys Well, and it was just but I wanted I don't know I was ready it was time for me to were you unhappy with their products? No, but it's just you're a model for them.
You're a spokesperson for them It's different like creating your own thing. Yeah, yeah, I was ready for that and then I still have relationship with Omega watches I have a furniture line really that doesn't sell we don't have a partner in the southern Cal area So no one here knows, but it's big. It's like what's it called? It's called Cindy Crawford home.
Really? Yeah, so I do that now, but what do you know when you say you do that? I mean they they show you what they're working on and you're like I like that or like that I say my role is more of editing or you know, but I can send it's like I could say hey I really like marks that and then I take a picture of it. Can we do something like this?
Yeah, you can't even go to Ikea So, you know like that's the way that works and that's been fun and again It's the thing I like about the home business that I don't it's not requiring me to be 25 on the cover of over Right, right, right, right, you know, it can grow with me sure and then you know, I'm I'm mom and my husband And I really like I don't know how much I like it We tend to buy houses and or build houses and then you know, some up and sell them and you guys are flippers Not total flippers, but I don't know it's something he really likes it and he's very good at it And so I'm kind of his I'm get dragged along right right you get to pretend you like baseball again Yeah, I do like it I just don't like it when I'm living in it right now. We're having a situation where I'm living in a project and that's that's hard But you're getting you're making your house better. Exactly. And he's you guys have had success with that with the real estate stuff.
Yeah, yeah Great, is he still in the restaurant business? He actually owned a tequila now called Casa Migos with George Clooney Oh, yeah, it's been going great really I'm also tequila everybody tequila spokesperson now. Do you hang out with the Clooney? We do he seems like a good guy.
Please tell me he's a good guy. He's a great guy. He's not disappointed That's what I always say about George like everyone he has such a great image and he literally lives up to it. He's funny He's smart.
He's engaged charming great movie star. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and the wife is yeah No, she's no, she's I mean we always joke when we're around him all that like we're like the dumb Hollywood people You know, I mean, she's like really smart Well, I'm glad that you brought one over. Yeah, exactly.
What was great talking? Yeah, you too. Thanks So that's our show folks that was a nice chat with Cindy. I do need to clarify one thing Well, I something you know me well enough to know when I was talking to Cindy that I said that my first wife was a model She was not she was an actress and now she's a therapist.
It was my second wife who was the model neither one of them would ever listen to my show So I don't feel like I'd be offending them, but I apologize to both if I did and also for everything else I'm gonna play the little guitar. I'm starting to sweat. Hold on