American model Christie Brinkley may be 65-years-old, but she looks as good as ever and her debut on this season of Dancing with the Stars was much anticipated. The star was expected to perform a foxtrot to the tune of “Uptown Girl” by Bill Joel. Brinkley starred in the original version of this music video years ago and appeared to be excited to take on the dance alongside dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
Unfortunately Brinkley sustained an injury during practice that kept her from being able to appear on the premiere episode this past week, according to Yahoo News .
The accident, which was captured on video, shows Brinkley stumble while dancing in high heels alongside Chmerkovskiy. In an attempt to stop her fall, the model thrust out her arm and ended up with a wrist and arm fracture. Brinkley was reportedly devastated that she was unable to perform and enlisted her 21-year-old daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, to take her place.
Now Brinkley-Cook is addressing the rumors that the accident was staged in order to gain her media exposure. The young star said the decision to take her mom’s place was far from staged, and came about only because of Brinkley’s desire not to let anyone down due to her lack of an ability to perform.
“Getting that call from my mom [about her injury]… she was sobbing, crying. She was so disappointed because she couldn’t do it anymore. She wasn’t even crying because she was hurt, she was like, ‘I let everyone down. I won’t be able to keep going on Dancing With the Stars . “The next day she calls me and she’s like, ‘I found the silver lining and you’re it!’”
Fans didn’t seem to be too bothered by the 21-year-old taking her mother’s place on the show. Despite the fact that Brinkley-Cook had only three days to prepare the dance as opposed to her mother’s 30 days, she pulled it off effortlessly.
However, Brinkley-Cook still received some criticism in the media for her unexpected debut, most especially from television personality Wendy Williams. Williams felt that the performance seemed a little too perfect and even went as far as to publicly say that she didn’t believe Brinkley’s accident happened the way it was portrayed and that the whole thing was staged to benefit Brinkley-Cook’s career.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, media personality Sharon Osbourne, who is friends with Brinkley, rejected the claims Williams made about the model. She called the television host out for being so cruel to fellow celebrities, despite the fact that her own life is far from perfect.