Christie Brinkley still has memories about the first time she gave birth nearly four decades ago!
Brinkley, 71, fielded questions about her new memoir Uptown Girl at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Tuesday, April 29. The model fondly recalled the 1985 birth of her daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, whom she shares with ex-husband Billy Joel.
“As the day approached, Billy got a little more and more nervous about— his house was out in the country where we were living, but he’s like, ‘We’re going to move into the city so we’re close to the hospital.’ ” Brinkley recounted of Joel, now 75.
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“But sure enough, when it happened, we were out in the country and he suddenly pulls out all the gear. He’s got this stop watch around his neck, okay, [imitating him] ‘We got to go pack up. Let’s get packed,’ ” she continued.
Brinkley spoke on the urgency of rushing to the hospital from an isolated area. “We were so unprepared and we didn’t have any friends that had had babies yet, for some reason.”
She then revealed the one thing she packed to take to the hospital with her. “And so all I packed were earrings. I was thinking, home videos, my earrings for that, for if it’s a girl or if it’s a boy, and all of that. And so we didn’t buy diapers or anything, but it was so amazing.”
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Brinkley also packed a video camera to document home videos of her journey to the hospital and immediately after giving birth to Alexa, who is now 39. “My video of it is so great, and I video everything walking in the door. ‘These feet are just normal feet, but when I come out, these will be the feet of a mother.’ “
The model also spoke on her memories of her ex-husband at the time of their daughter’s birth. “Billy kept thinking he had to make me laugh during labor, but you don’t want to laugh during labor,” Brinkley joked.
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“He kept going, ‘Take the drugs.’ I said, ‘no, no, I’m not.’ Then he’d say something funny and I’m like, ‘Don’t make me laugh.’ And then Alexa took her time as she’s prone to do. Nineteen hours of labor, but worth every second,” Brinkley continued.
Uptown Girl documents the supermodel’s complex life and career in the entertainment industry after she was discovered standing outside a phone booth in Paris in 1974. Brinkley met Joel while starring in the music video for his 1983 hit song “Uptown Girl.”
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