Christie Brinkley Is Back In Sports Illustrated At 63 And Posing With Her Daughters

Take a look at this shot from this year’s Sports Illustrated Swim Issue and one thing is clear: Christie Brinkley and her daughters are gorgeous.

The former supermodel will grace the pages of this iconic magazine (hitting newsstands February 15) for the ninth time. And, why not? If I look half as good as Brinkley by age 63, I’ll strut around in a bikini too.

And her kids, Alexa Ray Joel and Sailor Brinkley Cook, wow! Clearly the apples didn’t fall too far from the tree. Both stunning.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQMmtdkgPna/?taken-by=alexarayjoel

Because I’m all about girl power and positive body image and age is just a number and all those things, I hate that I’m about to add a “but” here, yet I can’t help it.

Does anyone else feel just the slightest bit icky about posing in Sports Illustrated with your mama?

Maybe it’s because I have preschool-age daughters, but it just seems like a slightly strange mother-daughter bonding experience. I mean, this magazine issue is basically drool-worthy bathroom fodder for teenage boys. No?

Maybe or maybe not. The Brinkley gals kept it real on social media, and I have to say their messages are on point and put me in my place. Each of them echoing ideas and lessons I want my own daughters to absorb—and so I humbly step down from my soapbox.

At 63, Brinkley told People she is trying to change the way we perceive beauty.

“In a country that’s very ageist, people love to put you in little boxes,” she says. “Women feel very limited by their numbers. On a personal level, I thought, if I can pull this off, I think it will help redefine those numbers and remove some of the fear of aging.”

I’d say she nailed it in this red bikini.

https://twitter.com/AngeloCataldi/status/828918447065137153

For daughters, Joel and Brinkley Cook, the experience took a bit of courage too. Taking to Instagram to share their thoughts, Joel, 31, explains her reason for posing as “a lesson in learning to let go, take the plunge, and embrace myself from both the inside AND out.”

“My purpose is to now pass along this lesson of unconditional self-love and self-respect to every woman who’s willing to listen,” she shared with fans.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQMw5VdgbGY/?taken-by=alexarayjoel

For the youngest in this Brinkley trio, this shoot was about celebrating positive body image. Brinkley Cook, 18, shared her own struggles with followers on Instagram.

“I went from being ‘too fat’ to ‘too thin’ to ‘too muscular’ and I never felt satisfied. My body and I have been through it all. But recently I have been liberated. I am healthy, i treat myself well, and for that i’m happy. I’ve looked in the mirror and been able to LOVE the things about my body that beauty norms deem ‘undesirable’. I now have grown to know that my body is worthy of so many great things. I don’t need to be a size 0 to believe in myself. My body carries me each and every day, it loves the people i love, it holds what makes me healthy and strong, it bends it shakes it runs and it CHANGES. That is okay and that is beautiful,” she wrote.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNswNyBtqL/?taken-by=sailorbrinkleycook

It’s hard to believe these beauties have the same struggles as the rest of us. But, their honesty and bravery shows that beauty in this family is more than skin deep.