Forty-one year old model Christy Turlington is in the current issue of Vogue Italia looking simply gorgeous in her editorial shot by Steven Meisel.
Surely the buzz of walking down a catwalk must be hard to replicate? “Actually, I hated that part more than anything,” she smiles. “I just remember thinking: ‘How fast can I get to the end and back again?'” Other challenges were more memorable. “I remember doing a shoot for Herb Ritts, hanging off the Eiffel Tower – that wasn’t your usual day at the office. It was terrifying and in the end you couldn’t really tell how high I was because the photographer was scared of heights so he was quite far away from me. It only happened rarely, but sometimes you did feel that you were contributing to a piece of art.” Looking at photographs of herself quickly became an emotionless process. “The make-up, lighting and photographer turn you into a different person: I could never prefer that person, because that would be dangerous.” Turlington has carried the same logic through to the ageing process. “Getting older is baggage for so many people but I don’t spend time on things I can’t control. Wrinkles don’t scare me; they’re a part of life and I will and do embrace them, but I look at surgery and that scares me.” If it’s possible to be bored of being beautiful, Turlington is just that. At 41, the model has found a loftier cause: working with the humanitarian organisation Care (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.) as an advocate for maternal health. It is also the subject of her forthcoming documentary, No Woman No Cry. “I hope that the film will be a good vehicle to get policy-makers to put the idea into a more human perspective,” she says. Unlike many celebrities, who seem to pick a cause at random, Turlington’s interest in health advocacy was sparked by two important events in her life. When her father, a lifelong smoker, died of lung cancer in the mid-Nineties, she began campaigning for prevention. “I had been a smoker in my teens and early twenties, but I wanted people to know what it was like to see someone you love die of lung cancer.” Her partnership with Care began when she experienced complications giving birth to her daughter, Grace, seven years ago. “I had suffered from postpartum haemorrhage, which was, thankfully, very easily managed in a hospital in New York City, but I learnt later that it was one of the leading causes of death in the developing world. That opened my eyes to a lot of other maternal health issues.” Her aid efforts began in El Salvadore and took her on to Tanzania and Peru. “I remember driving into Lima as the sun was going down and seeing this beautiful pregnant woman walking her sheep across the hills. I was struck by how vulnerable she looked and I remember thinking: ‘Something can be done.’ Four years later Care had managed to halve the maternal mortality in one particular town there. Little things helped too: the midwife being able to speak their language, calling the women by their name and not a number, putting them in sheets that were patterned, and not white, which represents death. Ninety per cent of maternal deaths are preventable, so we really have to do a better job.” The ability to keep working as a model while pursuing a more rewarding quest goes some way to explain Turlington’s obvious contentment. “With every passing year I feel more fulfilled,” she admits. “I am only just coming into a phase of my life where I can say that I feel passionate about what I do.” Article excerpts by Telegraph.
About The Author
Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.
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