Christie Brinkley’s Daughter, Sailor, Lashes Out at Internet Trolls: ‘Stop Comparing Me to My Mother’
Sailor Brinkley Cook may resemble her famous mother, be in the same line of business, and even dress like her on occasion, but she’s still an individual. And today she’s an individual who is fed up with being compared to the modeling legend.
This should be an incredible week for the 18-year-old Long Island, N.Y., native — she begins college at Parsons School of Design. However, an online story about her mom, Christie Brinkley, helping her move to Manhattan for school brought out Internet trolls, and got under Sailor’s skin. “Fed up,” she took to Instagram to strike back against the haters.
Topic 1? “Everyone needs to stop putting me and my siblings and me and my mother in competition,” Sailor wrote, referencing her half-sister, singer Alexa Ray Joel, 30, and half-brother, model and aspiring actor Jack Paris Brinkley Cook, 21. “I believe comparison will kill you. Comparison to others is toxic and unhealthy. As long as I am happy healthy and kind to others why should i care if i am not as ‘pretty’ as someone else ? Let alone not as ‘pretty’ as my own blood relatives?”
Her second point was to people criticizing her college selection.
“Pushing down the school i worked my ass off for 4 years to get into, saying its for do-nothing trust fund babies, is not only stereotyping a scholastic community but is just plain incorrect and rude! I know many kids enrolled in Parsons who are the most hard working and passionate students in all of new york.”
The last topic was the one she was the most passionate about — and she has “been meaning to touch on publicly for years.”
“Stop. comparing. me. to. my. mother,” wrote Sailor, Christie’s daughter from her fourth marriage, to architect Peter Cook. “Believe it or not I am my own person with my own beliefs and own thoughts and my own face! Eyes smile teeth forehead! All mine! The whole shabang! Yes i am so fortunate that my mother is my mother.. And she will always be an inspiration to me… But being constantly compared to her 50+ years of success at only 18 years old? And being told I could never amount to what she was and what she looks like? Doesn’t feel great.”
She continued, “I just will never understand these people who WANT to make me feel badly, who WANT to tell an 18 year old girl she cant follow her dreams because if she does she WONT BE AS GOOD AS HER MOM WAS. I’m just a person figuring out what i want to do and what makes me happy. Leave me alone.”
Her post ended with a wish. She asked people to “get off their computers” and “go chase a sunset, kiss someone they love, pursue one of their dreams and STOP making an 18 year old girl feel constantly inferior and hurt. Lets just f***in spread love you guys. And pleaseeeee stop trolling me.”
On Thursday morning, she followed up her Instagram post with this tweet, clearly proud of herself for speaking out (and she should be).
Really glad i spoke up about the comments i've received since i was 15 and started this whole 'following in my moms footsteps' thing
— Sailor Brinkley Cook (@SBrinkleyCook) August 18, 2016
Sailor is the youngest of Christie’s children — yep, the 62-year-old cover girl is now an empty nester — and has been modeling (she’s with IMG Models) for several years, sometimes with her brother. However, the “wannabe photographer” has said she wasn’t sure which profession she will ultimately pursue — because she’s 18. Who really knows what they want to do at 18?
Sailor’s words, especially about feeling “constantly inferior” and “hurt,” are especially poignant because her big sister went through something similar. Growing up, Christie’s daughter with Billy Joel, who has dealt with self-esteem issues, was often ripped to shreds online — and in the NYC newspapers — over her appearance.
“They would criticize her for her physical appearance,” Christie said on The Talk in 2010. “She’s beautiful, exotic, gorgeous, beautiful — like Sophia Loren. We just don’t look alike… So she gets criticized for not looking like me when she’s her own gorgeous, unique [person].” She said she wanted bloggers to stop their cyberbullying, as it was “hurtful and it really brings us all down.”
Now six years later, maybe this powerful post by Sailor will finally bring an end to the criticism.
