Christie Brinkley is getting candid about the challenges of motherhood, particularly when raising children in the public eye.
In a new episode of the "Totally Booked with Zibby" podcast that aired Tuesday, the model and mother of three reflected on one of the most difficult aspects of fame, which she said includes protecting her kids from public criticism.
"Having kids is probably one of the areas that's the toughest. Dealing with a certain amount of celebrity and the scrutiny that goes along with it is hard," Brinkley said. "When that overlaps and they start scrutinizing your kids and comparing? That really hurts. Really."
Brinkley shares daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 38, with ex-husband Billy Joel. She is also mom to son Jack Paris Brinkley-Cook, 30, whom she welcomed with ex-husband Richard Taubman, and daughter Sailor Brinkley Cook, 26, whom she shares with ex-husband Peter Cook.
"It's the one thing that I can say has been the biggest bummer of being famous, because you never want what you are doing to hurt anybody," Brinkley continued. "And Alexa really got hurt by things that the media would say about her and continued to say about her through the years. It was really hard on her, and I think it's really hard."
Christie Brinkley calls ex-husband Billy Joel 'OUR piano man' after brain diagnosisBrinkley noted that her two younger children faced their own unique pressures.
"My other two came 10 years later, and Sailor, who got compared to me for looking like me, had difficulty with that, because she struggled with her weight," she said. "She dabbled in modeling, but she didn't really love it. It wasn't her thing, but when she was younger and she dabbled in it, she thought, 'Now I have to look like a model, and I have to lose weight.'"
"But it was rough on her too, and she got an eating disorder, and she got anorexic -- and it's just tough," she added.
To help shield her kids from negativity, Brinkley said she encourages them to avoid reading online comments and criticism altogether.
"I try and say to them, 'Don't even read the press, for starters,'" she said. "And not even just the press, but the letters people write, although I must say, I think we have a very nice group of people in our Instagram."
She also pushed back against the "nepo baby" label often attached to her eldest daughter, who is a singer-songwriter and pianist like her father.
"I say to Alexa, 'If they say you're a nepo baby because you sing, do they say to the kid whose dad owns the hardware store and he takes over the hardware store, that he's a nepo baby?'" Brinkley said. "It's like a family business! Like, you grew up on a sound stage or on the edge of a Madison Square Garden stage."
"'Nepo baby' is just a term that means your parents were in showbiz, so run with it. Who cares?" she added.
