Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers and runways, as well as fashion campaigns. She subsequently expanded into acting and business ventures.

Cindy Crawford
Crawford in 2015
Born	Cynthia Ann Crawford (1966-02-20)February 20, 1966 (age 59) DeKalb, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Northwestern University (dropped out)
Occupations	Model actress television personality
Years active	1983−present
Spouses	Richard Gere ​ ​ (m. 1991;div. 1995)​ Rande Gerber ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	2, includingKaia Gerber
Modeling information
Height	5 ft9+1⁄2 in (1.77 m)[1]
Hair color	Brown[1]
Eye color	Brown[1]
Agency	Storm Management (London)
Website	cindy.com

Crawford was born inDeKalb, Illinois, on February 20, 1966,^[2] the daughter of Daniel Kenneth Crawford and Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf (née Walker).^[3][4] She has two sisters, Chris and Danielle,^[5] and a brother, Jeffery, who died ofchildhood leukemia at age 3.^[6]

On social media, she stated that her family had been in the United States for generations and that her ancestry was mostly German, English and French.^[7] She is a descendant of EnglishPuritan settler Thomas Trowbridge, who helped establish theCongregational Church inNew Haven.^[8] She was raised in theCongregationalist faith and found it "incredible" that religious values "trickled down" to her family.^[9] According to official census records, Crawford's paternal great-grandfather David Crawford was of Scottish ancestry fromNorthern Ireland who settled in Wisconsin.^[10][11] Appearing in an episode ofWho Do You Think You Are? in 2013, she discovered that her ancestors included Europeannobility and that she was descended fromCharlemagne.^[3][12]

In her sophomore year at high school, she received a call from a local clothing store regarding modeling work, only to discover it was a prank by two of her classmates. However, the following year, another store hired a number of high school girls, including Crawford, to work for them (including a fashion shoot). In her junior year, local photographer Roger Legel, whose duties included photographing a different college girl to be that week's coed in theDeKalb Nite Weekly, asked to take her picture for the publication; the result was Crawford's first cover.^[13] The photo and positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modeling. Initially, she worked with a small agency, which was sold toElite Model Management shortly after she signed. In 1983, she entered Elite's Look of the Year contest at 17 and made the national finals.^[14][15]

Crawford graduated fromDeKalb High School in 1984 asvaledictorian.^[14][16] She earned an academicscholarship to studychemical engineering atNorthwestern University, which she attended for only one quarter before dropping out to pursue a full-time modeling career. After working for photographerVictor Skrebneski inChicago, she moved toNew York City in 1986 and signed with the Elite New York modeling agency.^[17][18]

In 1987, Crawford appeared in the opening credits of theMichael J. Fox filmThe Secret of My Success. Three years later, she was featured alongside top modelsChristy Turlington,Linda Evangelista,Tatjana Patitz andNaomi Campbell on the cover of the January 1990 edition ofBritish Vogue.^[19] Crawford and the other four models subsequently appeared in the video forGeorge Michael's hit "Freedom! '90" later that year. Subsequently, Crawford played the lost love ofJon Bon Jovi in the 1994 video for his version of "Please Come Home For Christmas", "John Taylor" in the 2011 video forDuran Duran's "Girl Panic" (featuring supermodels as the band, including Naomi Campbell asSimon Le Bon), and Headmistress in the 2015 video forTaylor Swift's "Bad Blood" as part of a cast includingJessica Alba,Selena Gomez, and fellow modelsLily Aldridge,Cara Delevingne,Gigi Hadid,Martha Hunt andKarlie Kloss.

She was frequently featured on the cover of multiple fashion and lifestyle magazines, includingVogue,W,People,Harper's Bazaar,Elle,Cosmopolitan, andAllure. A partial count in 1998 totalled over 500 appearances.^[20] Crawford has walked the runway shows forChanel,Versace,Dolce & Gabbana,Christian Dior,Calvin Klein,Ralph Lauren,Roberto Cavalli,Michael Kors,Thierry Mugler,Todd Oldham,DKNY andValentino. Crawford also appeared in many fashion campaigns during her career, including those forVersace,Calvin Klein,Escada,David Yurman,Oscar De La Renta,Balmain,Hermes,Ellen Tracy,Valentino,Bally,Liz Claiborne,Hervé Leger,Halston,Anne Klein,Isaac Mizrahi,Blumarine,Guess,Ink,Gap andRevlon. She has also worked forOmega,Maybelline,Clairol,Pepsi, and Chilean retail storesRipley (partner ofMacy's).

In July 1988, she posed nude forPlayboy magazine in a shoot by photographerHerb Ritts.^[21] In October 1998, Crawford returned to the pages ofPlayboy for a second nude pictorial, again taken by Ritts.^[22] She was ranked number 5 onPlayboy's list of the 100 sexiest stars of the 20th century. A 1997Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (afterDemi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 most beautiful people byPeople magazine. In her forties, she claimed No. 26 in the 2006 Hot 100 issue ofMaxim magazine.^[23] She was named No. 3 onVH1's40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s and was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" byMen's Health.^[24]

Thered Versace dress she wore to the63rd Academy Awards in 1991 had a major influence on fashion, and many copies and fakes of the dress were produced.^[25][26][27] In 1992, Crawford—throughGoodTimes Home Video and her company Crawdaddy Productions—made an exercise video with Radu Teodorescu namedCindy Crawford: Shape Your Body; although criticised by some^[who?] for being unsafe,^{[citation needed]} it was hugely successful and led to two equally lucrative followups,Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge in 1993 (again with Radu) andCindy Crawford: A New Dimension in 2000; the latter, made with fitness expert Kathy Kaehler and produced not long after Crawford gave birth to her first child, was aimed at new mothers getting back into shape. In 2001, Crawford also made a shorter fitness video aimed at children,Mini-Muscles with Cindy Crawford and the Fit-wits, an animated production featuring the voices of Crawford (who also appears at the beginning in live action), Radu andKobe Bryant.

The inaugural issue ofGeorge, a short lived political magazine in the 1990s, featured Crawford dressed likeGeorge Washington on the cover. In 2005, theAmerican Society of Magazine Editors listed it as the 22nd best magazine cover of the last 40 years.^[28]

Crawford has also been on TV and in films. From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host and executive producer ofMTV'sHouse of Style. In the early 1990s, Crawford starred in thePepsi andPepsi Stuff advertising.^[29][30] In 1992, she appeared in Pepsi'sSuper Bowl commercial,^[31] aired duringSuper Bowl XXVI. In 2016, Pepsi released a remake of the commercial, also featuring Crawford.^[31] In 1995, Crawford broke into movies as the female lead in the movieFair Game. Her performance was panned bycritics—Leonard Maltin commented "In her acting debut, supermodel Crawford makes a good jogger."^[32] The film was also a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at thebox office. In 2001, she costarred as part of an ensemble cast inThe Simian Line. Again the film was not successful or critically acclaimed, but Crawford's acting was not criticized. She has had many lesser roles guest starring on TV and as supporting roles, often playing herself. For example, in 2000, she was one of the celebrities (along withVictoria Silvstedt,Anna Falchi andMegan Gale) playing themselves in the Italian comedyBody Guards – Guardie del corpo. In the 1990s, Carol Shaw, her make-up artist, named a lipstick color after Crawford as a part of the Lorac Cosmetics lip-wear line.^[33]

In the late 1990s, she made a number of appearances in magicianDavid Copperfield's stage shows, standing in for her fellow supermodelClaudia Schiffer as Copperfield's guest assistant. During these appearances, she took part in a number of different illusions including being levitated,guillotined, andsawn in half in Copperfield'sClearly Impossible illusion. On a number of occasions, she joined Copperfield and Schiffer in a performance of theDouble Sawing illusion in which both women were sawn in half and then reassembled with their lower halves swapped.^[34]

Crawford quit full-time modeling in 2000 and now appears only occasionally in fashionmagazines. In 2005, Crawford created a line of beauty products withJean-Louis Sebagh called Meaningful Beauty forGuthy-Renker.^[35] Crawford has stated that she regularly receives certain cosmetic procedures, includingBotox and vitamin injections. She first saw aplastic surgeon at the age of 29.^[36]

In 2005, Crawford launched a new line of furniture under the "Cindy Crawford Home Collection" name. The collection is manufactured by HM Richards Inc. She assisted in the creation of the line by consulting on the features, colors, or styles that fit the needs of families or reflected her own tastes.^[37] She also has a furniture line withRooms to Go,Raymour & Flanigan and launched a home goods line withJ. C. Penney in late 2009.^[38]

In 2009, Crawford was one of many celebrities to be photographed byDeborah Anderson for the coffee table bookRoom 23, produced by philanthropistDiana Jenkins. In addition to appearing in the book, Crawford was the cover model and wrote the dedication.^[39]Becoming, a book about Crawford's life and career co-written by Crawford and Katherine O'Leary, was published in September 2015.^[40]

Crawford appeared on the US version ofLipsync Battle reenacting her performance in the bathtub from theGeorge Michael music for "Freedom! '90", performed by actorZachary Quinto.

Crawford and her daughter Kaia appeared together on the cover of the April 2016 issue ofVogue Paris.^[41] In 2016, she became a spokesperson forAcqua Minerale San Benedetto in Italy.^[42] In September 2017, Crawford, along with modelsClaudia Schiffer,Naomi Campbell,Helena Christensen andCarla Bruni, closed theVersace spring/summer 2018 fashion show, which was an homage to the lateGianni Versace.^[43]

In January 2019, Crawford, along with her husbandRande Gerber,Michael Meldman,Jeff Shell andJay Sures announced they would purchase the Hollywood deliNate 'n Al to keep its doors open after three generations of family ownership.^[44][45]

Crawford was featured in an upcoming four-partApple TV+docuseries titledThe Super Models, which premiered on September 20, 2023. The series also featured Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista and was directed byRoger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills.^[46]

Crawford was married to actorRichard Gere from 1991 until their divorce in 1995.^{[citation needed]} She married businessman and former modelRande Gerber on May 29, 1998.^[47] They have two children, son Presley Walker Gerber (born July 2, 1999)^[48] and daughterKaia Jordan Gerber (born September 3, 2001),^[2][49][50]

In August 2021, the couple sold their home inTrousdale Estates,Beverly Hills, for a reported $13.5 million.^[51]

Crawford is5 feet9+1⁄2 inches (1.77 m) tall with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34–25.5–36.^[52] Her trademark is amole (or "beauty mark") above her upper lip. She is so closely associated with this physical feature that she appeared in an Australian advertising campaign for flavoured milk featuring a TV commercial wherein she "licked off" her own mole.^[53] Her resemblance to modelGia Carangi led her to being known as "Baby Gia".^[54][55]

When Crawford was 10 years old, her three-year-old brother Jeff—whom she continues to praise as "the fourth most influential person in [her] life"—died ofleukemia. Since becoming a model, Crawford has madechildhood leukemia a focal point of her charity work, donating proceeds of her calendars tomedical research.^[56] Crawford has been a long-time supporter of thepediatric oncology program at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, where Jeff was treated, stating that she believes he received the best care possible.^[57] She is also an honorary board member of theMultiple Myeloma Research Foundation.^[58]

In 2007, she became an official supporter of theRonald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.^[59] Crawford is on the honorary committee of the California Wildlife Center.^[60]

In 2021, Cindy Crawford recreated her iconic Pepsi ad with photographer David Yarrow to help raise funds for theAmerican family Children's Hospital inMadison, Wisconsin where her brother, Jeff, was treated for leukemia.^[61]

In2008, Crawford endorsedBarack Obama forPresident of the United States.^[62] Despite reports, Crawford denied endorsingMitt Romney for the 2012 election.^[63]

• Official website
• Cindy Crawford on theInternet Archive
• Cindy Crawford atFashion Model Directory 
• Cindy Crawford atIMDb
• Cindy Crawford onInstagram 
• Cindy Crawford onFacebook 
• Crawford^{[dead link‍]} at theMusic Television (House of Style)
• Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford