Christie Brinkley Delights at the Final Texas Trailblazer Awards, Honoring The Family Place, in Dallas

After almost three decades, the final Texas Trailblazer Awards Luncheon took place at Fairmont Dallas, honoring The Family Place with the theme “Voices of Hope.” The nonprofit, founded in 1978, is one of the largest family violence service providers in Texas, serving more than 40,000 people each year. One of the year’s most exciting shopping events for a good cause, The Family Place’s 33rd annual Partners Card event will also take place from October 24 through November 2.

Over the years, the Texas Trailblazers Awards Luncheon has featured keynote speakers like Justin Baldoni, Brooke Shields, and Christina Ricci, and honored influential leaders such as Dr. Opal Lee, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, and more. For its last event, attendees heard from legendary supermodel, entrepreneur, and advocate Christie Brinkley, who shared her journey of resilience and commitment to uplifting women during a moderated chat with Gloria Campos, but more on that in a minute.

The Family Place CEO, Tiffany Tate, first kicked things off by introducing event co-chairs Kristen Cobb, Katie Samler, and Ellis Thomas. A special mission moment with Dr. Sabrina Greenlee, founder of S.M.O.O.O.T.H., Inc., then took place. After surviving a violent domestic violence attack that left her blind, Greenlee became a nationally recognized activist, author, and inspirational speaker. She shared her powerful story of survival and empowerment.

Then, this year’s Paige Flink Award recipient, Jan Langbein, CEO of Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support, was honored for her leadership in empowering survivors, while the Texas Trailblazer Award went to Effie Dennison for her work in community and philanthropy.

Christie Brinkley then came out to sit down with former TV journalist Gloria Campos to discuss her memoir, Uptown Girl: A Memoir, where Brinkley reveals instances of her childhood and adult life that weren’t so glamorous.

A Conversation With Christie Brinkley

“I learned from your memoir that you’re not just a beautiful person with a beautiful smile, but you are a survivor,” Campos said.

“My mom was not happily married, but she was from a generation where she would never say so,” Brinkley said. “But at a certain point, it became evident that she had to move out. And my biological father gave me up for adoption. And that alone was such a shocking thing, but it was also repeated later in my life; that one of my children, their father, did the same thing.”

“So I’ve seen it from a couple different angles and I’ve had a couple marriages where I’ve been there, I know that feeling, or what do I do now, where do I go?” she continued. “What I really discovered is that old cliché, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, it really is what happens.”

Brinkley is famously known for being married to Billy Joel from 1985 to 1994. “I had two good marriages and two bad ones, and I would count Billy as a good one.”

“I have to be careful what I say because of NDAs,” she laughed at one point, trying to explain her experience with domestic abuse. “I personally would get through it by counting my blessings. It was something my mom taught me.”

At the end of the conversation, Campos asked a quick round of “fun” questions. Brinkley’s most charming answer was in response to: What would we be surprised to know about Christie Brinkley? “It would be about my childhood with my mom. She would always tell me to guard my mystery. Well, so much for that,” she laughed.

Also, when Campos asked Brinkley if she had any advice for 20-year-old Christie, what would it be? “I would say, don’t get married so fast, maybe get to know him first,” she joked about her first husband, Jean Francois Allaux, whom she met in Paris in 1973.

“But I still can’t say I regret anything because everything that happened led to my three children.”

PC Spotted: Dr. Meredith Abbott, Elaine Agathar, Fonda Arbetter, Talisa Attree, Carrie Bass, Dr. Laurie Berger & Brian Levine, Lori Bishop, Stephen Bodwell, Jessica & Christopher Brown, Victoria Brown, Jennifer Burns, Joanna Clarke, Jody & Mike Coffey, Kathy Cothrum, Machelle Davenport, Samantha Eppler, Susan Fisk, Bunny Ginsburg, Brooke Ginsburg, Jill Powell Goldberg, Michelle & Bryan Goolsby, Jessika Greene, James & Kristin Hallam, Sarah Hardin, Tish James, Chezzarae Jensvold, Sandi & Steve Karrmann, Richelle Kerber, Nicolette Lamont, Meredith Land, Holly Losey, Emily Maduro, Courtney McHugh, Wynne McNabb, Mary Mobley, Carolyn & David Miller, Katy Miller, Kendell Mountain, Dani Mullen, DeMetris Sampson, Kristy Sands, Susan Scullin, Cheryl Schoellkopf, Sue Schell, Melissa Sherrill, Gabrielle Smith, Lauren Sullivan, Emma Thomas, Marci Thomas, Elanor Tomashoff, Katie Walton, Evan Westerburg, Susan Wilson, Alicia Winn and Ana & Jim Yoder.