Christy Turlington is one of the original 90’s supermodels, alongside best friends Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. But unlike others, Turlington always seemed she would be so down-to-earth and sweet in real life. And full disclosure: I saw her in person at a media conference where she was speaking about her nonprofit, Every Mother Counts, which seeks to eradicate the 300,000 annual childbirth-related deaths around the world. Turlington established the charity after her own very difficult experience giving birth to her daughter, and unlike some celebrities who pay just enough lip service to charity for PR, I could tell she was truly passionate and committed to the cause. (Also, the point being she *was* truly humble and approachable in person, with hardly any makeup and a very simple blouse. Love!!)
With midwives in Mexico. Her nonprofit provides midwife training in underserved regions.
In fact, Turlington admits to wearing *very* little makeup unless she’s in front of the camera or going to a special event. For day-to-day, she touches up with mascara and concealer; for evening, it’s “maybe a deeper lip colour and a bit of eyeliner… But very little. For me, I prefer looking like myself. If you have good skin you want to show it,” as she tells Vogue.
Instead of creating new cheekbones and nose bridges where they don’t exist (he he), Turlington just focuses on skincare. “Skin is one of the things that you can take responsibility, by the way. You can’t choose your nose or your legs or whatever, but you can actually take care of yourself and your skin and take care of you,” she tells W. (Which makes me feel a bit chastised?! Am I being responsible enough…?)
But don’t worry. Turlington is NOT the one to cover her face in gold facial mask or extoll other extreme, eye-roll-worthy extravagances. “I don’t do a lot of facials or anything like that, I just try to eat well and exercise because that’s the best thing you can do for your skin and your health.”
But wait, there’s more. Her clean eating is so approachable–even downright Peaceful Dumpling-esque. “Avocado is the food that I would eat all year long. Sweet potato is another favorite…One of my favorite meals is still sweet potato with tahini.” What?! Me too, Christy!!
See our Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, for example.
She also says she’s been doing a juice cleanse once a year since her early twenties. When she’s on a cleanse program, she might also amp up her vegetables with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh lemon juice. Again, that’s a PD staple, which makes us adore Turlington even more. She cooks like #AllofUs when it’s Monday night and you’re hangry after work.
At age 48, Turlington does dabble in supplements to boost your glow. She swears by grape seed extract to repair your skin–this one by The Synergy Company is organic and vegan, as well.
Now, on to exercise. Turlington is famous among the famous as one of the earliest celeb devotees of yoga, starting around age 18. That’s definitely earlier than the yoga boom we’ve seen since the aughts! She also mixes in running, and regularly runs marathons to raise awareness for Every Mother Counts. Finally, when she needs extra tune-up she works out at SoHo Strength Lab doing TRX and running on a curved treadmill, and goes to Barry’s Bootcamp once a week, per Independent.
Finally, all that running around being an advocate, a mom, and a model-at-large will require some “me time,” which to her is just lavender epsom salt bath. (Simple!) She loves Rahua shampoo and treatments, which is made with rahua oil from the Amazon, sustainably cultivated and harvested using the same traditional methods used by the tribes. It’s vegan, organic, non-toxic, and cruelty-free, and a part of the proceeds go back to the preservation of the forest. On her face she uses Rodin Olio Russo Face Oil.
At the end of the day, though, Turlington keeps it simple, saying “I’m much more interested in how I feel. If you feel good you tend to look better too.” On aging, she says, “there’s no negative to getting older.” Yaaasss, kween.
Have you heard of Christy’s Every Mother Counts? Anyone else feeling vindicated about eating too much avocados and sweet potatoes? And would you try grape seed extract?
Also see: Supermodel Veronica Webb Swears By This Anti-Aging Supplement That Repairs Your DNA
Salma Hayek’s Eco Advocacy Gives Us All Some Hope About Climate Change
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Photo: Christy Turlington via Instagram; The Synergy Company; Rahua
