Christie Brinkley may have broken her arm during rehearsals, rendering her unfit to perform on this season of "Dancing with the Stars," but that isn’t going to keep her away from the show forever.
The model’s daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, who stepped in just three days before the season premiere to fill her mom’s shoes, tells Fox News that Christie is absolutely determined to get back on the show, and would love to appear on a future season.
"She wants to come back immediately. She loves this!” Sailor proclaimed, adding that ideally, she herself would love to win this season and then go on to mentor her mom on her future "DWTS" ventures.
But for now, the 21-year-old is thrilled to be able to save the day, although there is definitely a lot of pressure associated with the maneuver.
Sailor reveals that she was flying to Los Angeles, from her home in New York, planning to visit Disneyland with her boyfriend and cheer on her mom on the show. She got the news that her mother was injured and then the very next day, a phone call from her mom asking if she wanted the gig.
"She wants to come back immediately. She loves this!"
“I was on an early flight out and before the plane was about to take off – the wheels were literally rolling -- my mom calls me and tells me that she thinks I should do it,” says Sailor. She said she quickly replied: “Mom! I’m taking off in 30 seconds! We’ll talk about this when I land” and was then forced to hang up.
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“When I landed, I had all these texts telling me where to go and who to meet with. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ So really I was like full throttle into it from the moment I got there,” she explains.
Sailor, who wasn’t exactly convinced she had what it takes, said no matter how big her fears of dancing on national television with no prior experience were, she couldn’t turn down her mom.
"My mom was in tears. She was so devastated that she couldn't do it and she thought this was the perfect silver lining."
“My mom was in tears. She was so devastated that she couldn't do it and she thought this was the perfect silver lining. So I couldn't say no,” Sailor admits. She then met with a "DWTS" producer, was fitted for her outfits, and started getting excited. “I was like, wait. Maybe I can do this -- because when you really get there, it all seems less daunting,” she explains.
Sailor noted that having only three days to prepare for her debut routine, however, was beyond insane and says the first day of rehearsing with her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, was a full 10 hours.
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“I had never danced at all,” she admits, revealing that she had a long way to go.
Two weeks into the show, Sailor is down to the typical 5-hours a day of rehearsal that her castmates get and is proud to be there. She jokes, however, that this doesn’t make her any less nervous about the experience.
“It’s definitely been an emotional whirlwind with all of the emotions of my mom breaking her arm and being in pain and being sad about not being able to do something that she was so excited for. And then having to work through thoughts that I not a performance person. I'm not used to getting up in front of a stage and doing anything, let alone dancing and having to learn steps to music and all of that,” Sailor said.
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As a child, Sailor admits to getting debilitating stage fright when being presented with doing things like a school play or a music recital and having bailed out the day before due to nerves. “So I definitely was very nervous to do this,” she admits.
Christine shattered her arm, had a rod installed inside to mend it, and was in a tremendous amount of pain. But Sailor says when she got the news, the injury was the last thing on her mind.
“She called me and she was crying. And she was saying, ‘I broke my arm and I'm, and I'm so pissed and I'm so disappointed in myself and I let everyone down.’ She wasn't even worried about her arm. She was just like, ‘I wanted to do this so badly and now I can't do it and I don't know what to do,’” Sailor reveals.
In addition to being the heroine who filled her mother’s slot on the show, Sailor is also looking forward to paving her own way and giving America the chance to get to know her.
The model, who has followed in her mother’s footsteps with a Sports Illustrated shoot in the past, is also a budding photographer who aspires to contribute to National Geographic as a photojournalist.
"I hope that after this is done, I can really harness all of that into something else exciting as well, whether it's acting, whether it's painting, whether it's creating a photo book."
Prior to doing the show, Sailor “was in a normal phase of life,” having taken a year off of college, living in Australia and doing some modeling.
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“Then over the summer I was just hanging out with my boyfriend and we were thinking up some business ideas and the next step and I thought I’d maybe go back to film school,” she says.
But now that "DWTS" has happened, Sailor is open to wherever the road leads her next.
“I hope that after this is done, I can really harness all of that into something else exciting as well, whether it's acting, whether it's painting, whether it's creating a photo book. I want to do as much as I can. And if I love doing something then I'll stick to it for a while and that'll be what I'll do,” she proclaims.