HEALTHChristie Brinkley Reveals Shocking Way the Model Discovered She Had Skin Cancer on Her Face
Christie Brinkley is getting real about her skin cancer journey.
The model made a guest appearance on the Tuesday, May 28, broadcast of TODAY, where she candidly opened up about how she learned of her diagnosis two months after revealing she was battling Basal cell carcinoma.
Christie Brinkley joined 'TODAY' to discuss her skin cancer journey.
The 70-year-old admitted she discovered her diagnosis while bringing one of her daughters to an appointment at the dermatologist.
"I was in the room, and he had this little magnifying glass out, and he's looking at a couple of things that she was worried about," explained Brinkley, who shares her eldest daughter, Alexa, 38, with ex-husband Billy Joel, 75, and her youngest daughter, Sailor, 25, with ex-husband Peter Cook, 65.
The model revealed she was diagnosed with Basal cell carcinoma back in March.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit star is also a mom to her son, Jack, 28, whom she welcomed with ex-husband Richard Taubman, 76, though he was later adopted by Cook.
"I thought, 'There is that little spot right on the side of my head right here. ... Should I say anything? It's not my appointment,'" Brinkley continued. "Then right at the very end, as he was putting away his little thing, I said, 'Before you put that away, do you think you could just look at this?'"
Christie Brinkley underwent surgery to remove the cancer from the side of her face.
"He looked and he goes, 'We've got to do a biopsy immediately. This is something.' Then the biopsy came back [as] cancer," the blonde beauty recalled, noting she proceeded to undergo surgery in order to have the cancer removed from the side of her face.
Brinkley added: "They took care of it, and luckily, my hair grows in that direction, but the scar is barely noticeable."
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The 'Sports Illustrated' model advised her fans to get regular full-body checkups.
Brinkley's candid chat comes after she revealed the situation to her 908,000 Instagram followers back in March.
"The good news for me is we caught the basal cell carcinoma early," she captioned a series of graphic images featuring the wound near her hairline. "And I had great doctors that removed the cancer and stitched me up to perfection like an [sic] haute couture Dior."
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"The good news for you is that all of this can be avoided by being diligent with your sun protection!" she emphasized. "I got serious a bit late so now for this ole mermaid/gardener, I’ll be slathering on my SPF 30, reapplying as needed, wearing long sleeves and a wide brim hat."
Brinkley declared: "And doing regular total-body checkups..that is a MUST!"
