Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford was married to actor Richard Gere from 1991 until their divorce in 1995. She has been married to businessman and former model Rande Gerber since May 29, 1998. They have two children, Presley Walker Gerber and Kaia Jordan Gerber.

Crawford's younger brother Jeffrey died of leukemia when she was 10. His illness shaped her charity work, which has included supporting childhood-leukemia research, the pediatric oncology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Crawford began modeling while she was still in high school. A photograph taken by local photographer Roger Legel for the DeKalb Nite Weekly became her first cover, and in 1983 she entered Elite Model Management's Look of the Year contest and reached the national finals. She later worked with Chicago photographer Victor Skrebneski before moving to New York City in 1986.

Her major breakthrough came with the August 1986 cover of Vogue. The magazine left the beauty mark above her upper lip unedited, helping turn the feature into her trademark and challenging the industry's preference for removing perceived imperfections. Crawford's resemblance to model Gia Carangi also led to the nickname “Baby Gia.”

Crawford became one of the most recognizable models of the 1980s and 1990s. She appeared on hundreds of magazine covers and walked for fashion houses including Chanel, Versace, Valentino, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Dolce & Gabbana. Her January 1990 British Vogue cover with Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, and Naomi Campbell was followed by the models' appearance in George Michael's “Freedom! '90” video. In 1991, the same group walked together at Gianni Versace's couture show, an event widely associated with the emergence of the modern supermodel.

From 1989 to 1995, Crawford hosted and executive-produced MTV's House of Style, a fashion program that allowed her to interview guests and present the industry to a broad television audience. She also became closely associated with advertising campaigns for Revlon and Pepsi, including Pepsi's Super Bowl XXVI commercial in 1992.

Crawford expanded into fitness programming with Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body in 1992, followed by The Next Challenge in 1993, A New Dimension in 2000, and Mini-Muscles with Cindy Crawford and the Fit-wits in 2001. She made her film debut as Kate McQueen in Fair Game in 1995 and later appeared in 54, The Simian Line, Cougar Town, Wizards of Waverly Place, and other film and television projects.

Her music-video appearances include Jon Bon Jovi's “Please Come Home for Christmas,” Duran Duran's “Girl Panic!,” and Taylor Swift's “Bad Blood,” in which Crawford played a headmistress. She was also featured in The Super Models, a four-part Apple TV+ docuseries about the supermodel era, and served as an executive producer.

Crawford created Crawdaddy Inc. to manage her career and became known for extending her public profile beyond fashion. She launched the Meaningful Beauty line with Jean-Louis Sebagh in 2005 and developed the Cindy Crawford Home Collection, a furniture and home-goods brand produced through partnerships with several retailers.

She wrote Cindy Crawford's Basic Face: A Makeup Workbook in 1996 and co-authored Becoming with Katherine O'Leary in 2015. Becoming examines her life and career in modeling, television, business, and popular culture.