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Cindy Crawford (Supermodel and Watch Ambassador)

Published on Wed, 2 Dec 2020 07:00:00 +0000

We get incredible stories and an insider's perspective from one of the most iconic supermodels of all time.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent interviews legendary supermodel and Omega ambassador Cindy Crawford. The conversation explores Crawford's remarkable 25-year partnership with Omega watches, beginning in 1995 when what started as a simple modeling job evolved into one of the longest-running brand ambassador relationships in the industry. Crawford discusses her collaboration with visionary executives like Jean-Claude Biver and Nick Hayek Sr., who revolutionized watch marketing by incorporating lifestyle imagery and celebrity personalities into campaigns, effectively transforming watches from niche technical products into fashion accessories and status symbols.

Crawford reflects on her career trajectory, from her small-town Illinois upbringing to becoming one of the first supermodels to transcend traditional modeling boundaries. She emphasizes how she always viewed modeling as a job rather than an identity, which gave her the freedom to explore opportunities like MTV's "House of Style" that allowed her personality to shine through beyond static magazine images. She candidly discusses both successes and failures, including an ill-fated movie venture that taught her valuable lessons about her comfort zone and authentic self-expression. Throughout her career, Crawford has leveraged her platform for philanthropic causes, particularly pediatric oncology in honor of her brother who died from leukemia, and her work with Orbis International's Flying Eye Hospital.

The conversation also touches on Crawford's experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, spending extended time with her family in Malibu, and her excitement about Kamala Harris's vice presidency, relating it back to her childhood dream of becoming the first female president. Crawford discusses the evolution of media and self-presentation from her curated, professional-image-focused generation to today's Instagram culture that demands more authenticity and behind-the-scenes access. She shares intimate stories about her insecurity over her famous mole, which became her signature feature, and offers insight into her "80 percent good, 80 percent of the time" lifestyle philosophy, revealing that her greatest indulgences are margaritas and chocolate.

Transcript

Speaker
Cindy Crawford When you do a perfume ad, the photographer is trying to capture an image that evokes some kind of feeling that you go, Oh, I want to feel like a girl on the beach with wet hair and sand all over her body. But you're selling a perfume. I think with watches it's the same thing. It's like how does it make you feel? I love the weight of it. I love the sound of it. You know, or if I layer it with bracelets, it becomes an accessory. It's a lifestyle brand These days that is what a watch is
Stephen Pulvirent Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. I'm not gonna lie, when I opened up my inbox one morning a few weeks ago, bleary-eyed, still hadn't had my first cup of tea, and saw an email with the subject line Cindy Crawford for Hodinky Radio. I legitimately had to do a double take. That Cindy Crawford was the first thing that popped into my head. Now, fast forward a little less than two weeks, and I find myself on a Zoom call with the legendary supermodel, philanthropist, and watch ambassador, still sort of in disbelief. But it turns out that beyond being a fashion icon and arguably the first modern ambassador for a watch brand, Cindy is extremely charming and kind, and I quickly found myself chatting with her just like I would with anybody else. We talked about some of her career highlights and how she's using her platform to make a difference, but we really went deep into her connection to watches and Omega in particular. She's been affiliated with the brand for over 25 years, and along with a few collaborators, changed the way watches are marketed and promoted to the public. Cindy also shared some of her favorite watch-related memories, including a picnic in the Alps with Jean-Claude Beaver after a shoot, and the time she jokingly told Nick Hayek Sr. that she wanted a special platinum constellation, only to find one waiting for her the next time she visited Switzerland. Alright, I'm mostly gonna shut up now and let Cindy do the bulk of the talking. Let's be real, she's got much more interesting things to say than I do. So without further ado, let's do this. Hey Cindy, thanks so much for uh coming on the show. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Where uh where are you coming to us from? Where have you been riding COVID out. Well, we live in Malibu and
Cindy Crawford so I have to say it it hasn't been that, you know, I can't complain. I'm looking actually I'm looking at the ocean that way. Uh so and it and and one of the I mean look, I'm very fortunate. I don't have to I'm not worried about paying rent or um you know buying groceries and I understand that that is for so many families around the world, like it it's not, you know, that is the probably the biggest stress around this whole pandemic besides the fact that you could get sick. Um but I think the little there are little silver linings and little blessings along the way and I think for sure for my family it's just been like having my almost adult children just home and around and it's not even that they're just you know like like they're not wishing to be anywhere else because as we all know, there really isn't anywhere else. It's not happening anywhere. So it's just been it's been kind of that unplanned just hangout time where you know you could do a puzzle or go for a walk on the beach or just go for a walk anywhere, play with the dogs outside without. Um, I guess I never realized how structured and scheduled my life was, and then when that's taken away from you um and redefining what life can look like it's been you know I think we've all had good days and bad days you know sometimes you want to pull your hair out or you're just like you're like, when am I gonna, you know, travel again or see my friends? But then there's other days where you're like, wow, like I didn't have anything scheduled and I was okay with that.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah, that's great. I mean I would imagine not only is your life very scheduled, but also you're traveling constantly. And I know your kids are, I would imagine as well. Uh so to ha to have everybody not just not scheduled, but also just like in the same place for a sustained period of time must be must be a big change. Yeah, I mean definitely my trav
Cindy Crawford el schedule has wound down over the last couple years, but I mean nothing like this year. Right. You know right. So it's I've I um I think in a weird way this this year will help me transition to whatever that next stage of my life is um without being afraid. I think I had probably some fear about like, you know, quote unquote retirement, even though I'm not planning on retiring per se. But definitely, you know, my career has evolved and changed over the years. And I feel like there is like this next phase coming. And just seeing for myself that I I don't need to be go, go, go. That was that was a a a good lesson that I learned out of this.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of people have learned that lesson. And and a lot of people have also sort of like found new passions. And I wonder, have you being home and having time, have have you found anything new that maybe is going to be a b a big part of your next uh your next act? You know, it's funny because I already fe
Cindy Crawford el like there's been different phases of lockdown or whatever we want to call this. You know, I think the first month we all thought we thought it was gonna be for a few weeks. So you like cleaned your closets and you know, did puzzles. It was like, and then it was like, oh wait, this is this isn't this is like more permanent. And then we figured that's all of a sudden when we started going, oh, we can do conference calls and we can work by Zoom and we can do all these different things. Um then for us here it was summer so there was still a little bit of like that's even though normally we go away you know for a little bit in the summer this summer we didn't but kind of to try to recreate that experience um at home and then I always feel like for me New Year is September. I'm like a mom and so it was like always based around school year. And so I feel like September was a little bit like, okay, like now this is this is the new normal. Plus there was so much going on in the world, you know, with the election, or you know, for all of us um and I think and now it's the holidays so I d I haven't picked up like a necessarily like a skill or a but I found time to do things like I found time to meditate more. I found time. Um, you know, I was definitely more consistent about exercise, uh, you know, playing games with like we were playing cornhole a lot this summer and um and then my husband and I just started uh doing a little boxing on Friday. So that's been fun. Not with each other.
Stephen Pulvirent Nice way to work out stress at the uh Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, I I wanted to ask you about this and I was planning on doing it later, but since you you brought up the election, uh something that, you know, people may or may not know about you is is when you were younger, you know, like a kid, you you had a dream to maybe be the first female uh president of the United States. Um, and I know you've said that in interviews kind of uh over over the years, but um what does it feel like having like had that dream inside of you to watch Kamala Harris now uh entering the White House? You know what's funny? When I had that
Cindy Crawford dream, it didn't feel out of reach even then in when I was in middle school. Like it didn't I don't know. Like I I mean I think look, I think it's amazing. I think um the more representation we have in government, not just by women, but you know, all different belief systems and backgrounds, like that only makes, I think, our government better able to serve everybody. But um and it's exciting, I think, you know, f for for women to see Kamala Harris in office. But the way I guess I always credit the women before me that really led the way for equal rights amendment and stuff that I never felt like I had to prove myself to be as good as big boys. I just assumed I was. And so dreaming of being the first woman president, it was, it was more like I knew I wanted something bigger than um I loved the way I grew up. I grew up in a small town in Illinois and loved it. You know, we didn't lock our doors at night and I had all my cousins were in my high school. Like I knew you know, so there was like family everywhere. I loved that. But I I guess part of me also knew I wanted something more. And and I think the like president and the fact that I was female, so I'd have to be a woman president. um it was like the biggest job I could think of. You know, it wasn't necessary. It was like, okay, what what's big? One of my elementary school like uh student teachers had said like a future Miss America or something. And why that stuck with me wasn't that I wanted to be Miss America, but it was that she dreamed bigger for me than I dreamed for myself. And it was like permission to dream that big because you know I I grew up in like a book blue-collar family and say for a rainy day, and don't don't set your expectations too high. And it was like all of a sudden saw some someone saw something bigger for me than I would have dreamed for myself. And that gave me permission to think big. And I guess president with about as big as I could think of. I'm run I told my kids I'm running in 2024
Stephen Pulvirent . Well I I think you'll have my vote and a handful of other folks at uh the hodinky office. So uh you've you've gotta start there. Um Okay. I mean the the path you took obviously is is a very different one from being president, but I mean that that idea of dreaming big and making a big difference and inspiring people and creating change has obviously been a big part of of your career. And I wonder how you how you think about that now, how you think about looking looking back over over your career, um, the ways in which you've been able to to really make a difference. What what are some of the things you're sort of most proud of and the things that meant the most to you personally, even if they're not kind of the big like headline grabbing grabbing things. Right. Well, I certainly I mean, I
Cindy Crawford didn't have the luxury of choosing a career. Let's just say I needed to get a job. I needed to earn money. And I mean that started way before I started modeling from babysitting to working in a cornfield to um working in a clothing store cleaning houses i mean uh paper wrap all of that stuff so when the modeling thing kind of through tiny little series of events started unfolding, it was it was really a financial decision. And it wasn't an easy one because I had always excelled at school and I always prided myself on being good in school and I and I got into Northwestern on a scholarship and I like that had been my path. And then it was like this modeling thing came out of left field and my parents thought it was like a nice name for prostitution. They weren't like, you know, they were very suspect. Um but then when I got my very first job, which was a one-urho um bra shot for Marshall Fields, and it paid $150. And that's what I would make in a whole week working in the cornfields, like 12 hours a day, coming home covered in bugs and dirt. Um, I was like, wait, hmm, this this could be something. And uh obviously it worked out okay. Um, but you know, in the beginning it wasn't, you know, people I in some ways I joke that they give me too much credit because I I didn't have like this my career designed and um okay I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do that. However, where I think I do um,, you know, where I am proud of the way that I handled it was um I treated it like a job, I paid attention, I learned because you get to, you know, you travel. First, you you l you you learn can't not learn about life from traveling, especially from for a girl from a small town in Illinois who had never like, you know, going to Florida was like, you know, driving twenty eight hours down to my grandma's house, that was like you know the most I had ever traveled. And all of a sudden I'm on a plane to Japan by myself for two months. And this was before there were cell phones. So like I think I called home twice in two months. But so taking advantage of those opportun of those opportunities and learning and paying attention and then little by little I I did take some chances that I think set me up for a pretty unique and long career. I think one of the first ones I would say would definitely be doing MTV because my modeling agency, you know, MTV was still, you know, relatively new. They were not spending money on talent. And my agency thought, like, why would you why would you do the show that's paying, you know, whatever minimum wages for an actor. I think it's called scale. And I don't know. I there was just something about it and it gave me an opportunity to talk and not just be a two-dimensional image on a magazine um page. And that really I think propelled me into a different um sphere. Like people knew my name and they knew my personality. Like I became a person. And then because of that, I got other things. Um I also think that I had done sports illustrated once and it wasn't a great experience for me. And so the next year I was like, I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to do a swimsuit calendar. But and maybe in order to justify it in my own mind, I decided to give the proceeds to the hospital where my younger brother had been treated and unfortunately um he passed away from leukemia when I was 10. But it was like at that point that I saw that I could use my platform to help raise awareness and money for things that I cared about. So that was also something. And then when those things worked, like oh my my uh calendar was successful so then a few years later I had this idea of doing an exercise video with my trainer Raju at the time um I felt wow like I I can I can produce this. I can you know I of course I brought in ex you know experts as well, but it was my project. And every time you do something like that and you expand your skill set, um it gives you confidence then to try other things as life goes on
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I I think it's really interesting this idea you you mentioned there, kind of of kind of in the middle there of you know, finding ways to make your voice heard and to not be just a two-dimensional image to people. And you know, I think for a lot of uh I I won't speak to the experience on the model side, but I think from a sort of like person consuming magazines and and interested in fashion side, you know, you see people, you see the same faces on the on the runways and in Vogue and in GQ and in whatever over and over again. But one of the things that that really strikes me about you and about your career is how much you do beyond that, how much you do use your voice, and how much you really round yourself out into being a a like real rich three-dimensional person, however like weird and clinical that sounds, uh, for people. Like you're you're not Cindy Crawford the model, you're Cindy Crawford the human being. And it it's interesting to hear that that was sort of a a self-conscious, self-aware decision from pretty early on, right
Cindy Crawford ? Well I, think in terms of like being a model, I always said modeling is what I do. It's not who I am. Like I always saw it as a job. So and it's a great job. And I've loved it. And it's afforded me so many incredible experience and financial independence and all that. And again, I didn't set out to use modeling as a springboard to create a brand, to do this, to that. It just I was just interested, and I think one of my approaches was just um why not you know if somebody came to me with something it was why not like mtv why not and and having a little bit of that um willingness to try new things possibly fall on your butt um but either way you learn something and I remember my mother who actually my mother never gives advice unless you ask for it, which is which is actually the best advice she's giving me, which is like wait for your kids to ask for advice. But um one thing she said to me was like it was just like she showed me that like the only real failure failure is in not trying, and I think that that's true because not everything I've done has been successful. I mean, I a perfect example is I I kind of got persuaded to do a movie and really I wasn't I'd never done a play or in high school. I wasn't taking acting classes. It just, you know, a producer had this idea, hey, let's take the biggest model at the time and throw her in a movie. And um I said no, I said no, no, no, no. And finally I just said yes. And I wasn't prepared. I still had fun though. Um, my sister worked on the movie with me. We were in Miami. There's a lot of bad stuff. And the worst was the reviews of me specifically. But um I also learned, you know what, I don't really I can let that dream go, even if and it wasn't even really I mean I think every kid has a dream, right? Oh I it'd be fun to be in a movie. But it wasn't the kind of dream where I want to be an actress, I'm gonna take acting classes, I I''mm g inonna a work at this craft. It was like, oh, someone's offering me a movie? Oh, sure, why not? But after doing that, I was like, you know what? I actually I'm more comfortable being me. I I can get in front of any camera being Cindy Crawford, but when you give me lines and try to have me be someone else, like that makes me really uncomfortable. So that was a gift because it was like, oh, I can let that go. I don't ever have to think about that again
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. No, that that makes a lot of sense. Well, I I don't want to do too abrupt of a pivot here, but I I do want to make sure we we have time to talk um a little bit about your your relationship with Omega. So Omega, uh, you've been with Omega for quite a while since uh 1995. Um you've been pretty and not just sort of like doing an ad campaign here and there, you've been pretty deeply involved with them since the beginning. So I figure we'll we'll start kind of where it where it started, I guess. Um do you remember how how Omega first kind of like reached out to you, what your first interaction was with them back in in the 90s? Yes, I remember that I got a c
Cindy Crawford all from my agent about doing a just a photo shoot. It was just a modeling gig. It really was. It was like um hey, uh Omega, that's just the way jobs came in. It would be like it's Versace with Avidon and this is the money. So this was it's Omega with Herbert's who was one of my favorites um and also a very good friend of mine. Um and here's the money. And it was, and it's shooting in LA. I'm like, okay, love shirt shooting with Herb. It's gonna be and it was gonna be pretty. And we came to LA and we shot it in Herb studio. And that was the first time I kind of met the team. And it was just like any other modeling job. It went for it. It went smooth. But I think we all clicked. And so they invited me to an event a few months later, I think it was in Milan, to kind of and I I I don't think they were really using I mean there I don't know if they were really using ambassador, I mean the ambassadors at the time, I think it was kind of a new idea that I I I have to give um his name was Jean is Jean-Claude Beaver. He was the head guy at Omega at the time, and he really had this vision for me and the way that they shot me it was very more lifestyle and um and then he had the vision of incorporating me into these because you know the watch world was kind of very like niche in a weird way like all those watch geeks who all like geek out on certain things but it you know to really see especially for a woman's watch as fashion. Yeah. Um, and I think that you know, we just got along and we traveled the world together. And even though Mr. Beaver went on, I've been with Omega, as you said, for 25 years now. It's pretty I always say like I've been married to Omega longer than I've been married to my husband. Yeah. And we've never
Stephen Pulvirent had a fight. That's good to hear. Yeah. Um yeah, it's funny. I mean, I was gonna ask you about about uh Mr. Beaver. You know, he's he's a larger than life personality. Uh you know, I think most folks listening to this show probably know know who he is. Um, you know, we've we've had him at some of our events and things in the past. Um he's he's incredible. And, you know, like you said, it was this sort of vision he had to incorporate personality and pop culture into watches that really helped kind of push them out of obscurity in a in a lot of ways. And you were you were not just there, you were a sort of like foundational part of this. Um are are there any stories from from early on from some of those early trips and early shoots that that stand out to you as as particularly just like fun memories? Well, I mean this is just
Cindy Crawford a testament to how much I love Jean-Claude. It's just, you know, he is a visionary. He really is. And I know he's I know he gets the credit for that. Like I I I think they did like a Harvard business thing on him or whatever. So okay, he gets enough credit. But so what's really amazing about Jean Claude is his he has impeccable taste. And what he really taught me was taste is not about it doesn't have to be about money, right? And so one time we were doing an event in Switzerland and he invited my team to Lausanne where he had has a home and he took us on a picnic for the day and we took and he liked a picnic basket and we're go on this little train up to the top and we get off. We're having and actually I just posted a picture on my Instagram recently of this, but where we get off the train and we're having like this little picnic on the side of the tracks and we're like, oh, the air is even better here. The grass is greener. You know, it was just like such a perfect, charming day. And then he unfolds the picnic and there's hard boiled eggs. And we're like, even the eggs here are like such a beautiful color. And he started laughing. And I said, What are you laughing about? And he said, Oh, he added something to the water that he boiled them in just to enhance their color a little bit, you know, and it was like that kind of attention to detail but also appreciation of beauty for beauty's sake that I always loved about him. I mean he taught me how to eat raclet. I mean, I've never met a man who just has uh joy for life, you know. He mean he it's great wine, it's the best cheese, it's hard-boiled eggs that are, you know
Stephen Pulvirent , dyed to just the right color. That's incredible. That all that all tracks a hundred percent. None of that surprises me at all. Um that's that's wonderful. Um yeah, I mean really, really early on also the incorporation of of not just yourself, but like you said, photographers like Herbert's, like really making watches something that could be elevated to the same level as something like fashion, for example. And I know that that's sort of to call it a duality maybe isn't the right the right word, but that pairing of of watches and fashion and fashion and watches um is something that I think you know you and Omega and and Jean-Claude have been a big part of really reimagining what watches can be in that way. And for you, I wonder how do you think about the relationship between fashion and watches? Well
Cindy Crawford , these days, that is what a watch is. We do not need a watch anymore. There is no practical reason to wear a watch. I mean, my watch is never even set on the right time half the time because I don't have like one of those fancy things that, you know, keep it clicking when even when you're not wearing it and it is a fashion statement. It is, I mean especially for men, it's I think it's always been that men have so few like accessories. So like the watch is and I there's this thing about, you know, like for instance, my husband who's very understated, but like he'll notice, you know, if someone's wearing, you know, certain watch or he I know like he'll have a t-shirt on, but he'll still have like the statement watch. Like you couldn't tell anything about him except for his watch. I think for women, um, now it's it's also, I mean, you know, when I grew up, of course you had a watch for time, but now it's how does it make you feel? Like I love the weight of it. I love the sound of it. You know, or if I layer it with bracelets, it becomes uh an accessory, a fashion accessory. And I think for people who really love watches, you know, kind of understanding the craftsmanship. Um, and I know for me, like going the first time, and I've been many times since, but going the first time to you know the factory and watching the watchmakers put these tiny, I mean, they're like smaller than a half a grain of rice, you know, these tiny pieces all together so beautifully. And then it's all covered up half the time. I mean, some watches have the open back, which I love, but a lot of times we don't even see like the most beautiful part of a watch, really. Um, and I and I love that real watch lovers, like they have an appreciation for the for the watchmaking and the precision
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, no, that that's awesome. I mean it's it's good to hear. I I knew you'd been to Switzerland quite quite a number of times, but it's good to hear that kind of early on they got you right in the factory and kind of really in the in the thick of it. Um Yeah. You know, Omega has has also mentioned over the years that they've they've involved you in the design process for the the constellation models over the years. And and I'm curious, like what what does that mean that you've been involved in the design process.ort of S what what has your sort of level of input and and what's that experience been like for you? Yeah, I mean I'm certainly not a wat
Cindy Crawford ch designer. I've never claimed to be, but you know we they did put me in a room with the designers when they were doing the redesign and it was like at the time it was about the scale, like what feels right. I mean, you know, sometimes women wear chunkier watches and then they go more delicate and then chunkier and then more delicate. And at the time they were moving more toward delicate, like as a piece of jewelry, and understanding that like it's not your boyfriend's watch or whatever, it's not a man's's watch. It your watch. So, you know, and talking about like the clause and the different um, you know, letting me weigh in with the team as one voice because in a weird way like maybe being the muse or something but to weigh in what what I wanted and was looking for. I didn't win every argument but but I got to um to have a voice in that. So that when we did launch the constellation in I think that was in like ninety six or seven, um I felt, you know, I felt a part of it. Yeah. And that's when I think they really came up with the my choice campaign. I think I think that and now all of all of their ambassadors, you know, that's like such a tagline for Omega is my choice, but I think I might have been the first one where it was my choice.
Stephen Pulvirent Great. Yeah, I think I think watches in in a lot of ways have this sort of machismo about them. It's like a guy's guy thing. There's the whole mechanical aspect of it. And for a lot of watch brands, their their women's watches end up being, you know, they take a men's watch, they shrink it down, they throw some diamonds on it, and they call it a day. Um, it's kind of an afterthought. Um, but Omega has has been making really great women's watches for a long time. And I wonder how how your interactions with the brand and just being kind of in the watch world in in general, how you try to maybe like get get away from that and and bring it to be something that can be like actually really thoughtful and and not be this kind of like macho guy thing off on the side. I'm sure there are
Cindy Crawford women who are you know, appreciate like the guts of the watch and the precision of the things we were talking about before as well. I would say a lot of women are just like, is this how does this watch make me feel? It's like a perfume, right? It's a lifestyle brand. It's not, you know, when you do a perfume ad, obviously you're not usually smelling the perfume, right? So the the the whoever the photographer is trying to capture an image that evokes some kind of feeling that you go, oh, I want to feel like a girl on the beach with wet hair and sand all over her body. But you're selling a perfume. I think with watches it's the same thing. It's like, how does this watch make me feel? Does this make me feel like I got it going today, I'm going from meeting to meeting, well, from Zoom to Zoom, whatever. Um or is this like a super chic watch that I want to wear at night and it just peeks out of my jacket? You know, I mean for me it's that's how I look at a watch is uh unfortunately I have a pretty nice collection of omega watches at this point but it's like how's this gonna make me feel like sometimes I want a big chunky man's watch because that makes me feel different than like you know a very streamlined you know the little quadra or I think it's called the quadra or like my little constellation makes it's like a differ
Stephen Pulvirent ent vibe. Yeah. Are are there any watches over the years that you've gotten that that like mark special occasions or that you wore during a particularly important event? Like ones that just, you know, when when at the end of the day, if you had to get rid of things like these are the ones you're gonna hold on to well yeah I
Cindy Crawford have a one of a kind actually that Mr. Hayek um the senior who's since passed away um I was teasing him once about like, oh, I want a platinum one. I was just I was just being bratty. I mean, but in a fun way, I was like, I want a platinum one. And the next time I saw him, I had a platinum constellation. Um what I didn't understand is that platinum because it's soft, it's not ideal for watches. So it's a more of a special occasion watch, but it's it's beautiful
Stephen Pulvirent . That's pretty incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I mean we didn't we didn't even touch on on working with Mr. Hayek Senior, but I I would imagine, you know, him paired with uh Jean-Claude must have been a a a force to reckon with. It
Cindy Crawford really was. It was I I think in the middle of it, I didn't really realize um what an honor it was to work with both of them. And and you know, w after Mr. Beaver left, I was like, oh, it's never gonna be the same. But I have to say every single team that I've worked with at Omega has been incredible including like I've I've been there longer than most of the people like I think I'm on my fourth marketing and PR team. You know, I mean if you think about yeah, I from the nineties. Right. So and I really love like the thing that's been incredible about working with Omega is they I mean now we're family. I mean, but also and literally family 'cause the last campaign I did with my Right my both my kids and my husband. But you know, they've invested in me over the years. Like it's there's we just have good synergy in terms of like what we stand for, what our brand values are. They just align very nicely. And um they
Stephen Pulvirent they are excellent partners. So I I know that Omega is also you, you and Omega are involved together on the philanthropic side as well with things like Orbis International. And philanthropy has become a a huge part of what you do, right? Yeah, I mean really
Cindy Crawford I've tried to um include philanthropy from almost the very beginning. And fortunately I've worked with companies like Omega and Revlon that are very philanthropic. And that's been great when you when those two things align. And with Omega, even from very early on, usually every time we would go somewhere, we would do something with a hospital or a women's organization or something, depending on which country we're in. But the biggest I guess relationship that we've had lately is with Orbis International. And they invited me to Peru several years ago. And I took my daughter and we went, well, first we went to Machuchu Pic and did a little sightseeing, but then we ended up in Trujillo, which is on the west coast of um Peru, and um got to see this incredible flying eye hospital and these volunteer doctors from all over who came down there not only to do some surgeries themselves, but what's really incredible is that they teach the local doctors so that when they leave, they're not they're not, it's not like the benefit is only from when the flying hospital the flying hospital is there. It's like they teach the local doctors to help as well and and just simple things like that we take for granted um like strabismus which is cross eye like we don't have you know if a child is born like that in you know most places with access to health care, that is fixed. If it's not fixed, it could cause so many problems with depth perception, even walking, they won't be able to drive, and then they become a burden on their family. So something's so simple, it's not, you know, it's an outpatient surgery in one day that can change the course of a family's life
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. Are are there any other causes that, you know, we'll we'll give you a minute here to to do a little log rolling? Any anybody you're working with now that you want to kind of give give a plug to or a shout-out to? I mean the
Cindy Crawford main the the main cause for me is pediatric oncology because of of losing my brother. So he was treated in Madison at the American Family Children's Hospital. So that is probably my number one place that I not only gift money, but also energy. And one of the cool things I did recently. W,ell I did it two years ago, but I just recently did it again, is there's a photographer named David Yarrow. And I met David at a party and he said, would you know, would you shoot with me? And I will split the proceeds from the pictures with you for your charity. So we shot together two years ago and he's already donated a half a million dollars from those photographs to American Family Children's Hospital. So I was like, okay, I'll if so he asked me to do it and I again I'm like, okay, and let's even raise more money this time. So we just shot together like a month ago, um, which is complicated. COVID shooting is definitely yeah uh a lot more precautions and complicated. However, we shot in Billings outside of Billings, Montana, these incredible pictures. And I'm super excited to yeah, I love the images, but also to have to be able to do something like that for such a great cause is it's like a win-win-win-win-win.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It's it's it's incredible that you get to have that that one-to-one as well. Like it's not like you're doing something and it sort of trickles down and eventually ends up kind of benefiting someone. But that ability that you can like get up in the morning and go do something and it it has that kind of like big tangible effect must be really empowering and and exciting. It is.
Cindy Crawford I mean, look, when I went to the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, I was like, oh, I wish I was an eye doctor and I could come down here and volunteer my time doing surgeries instead of just standing there handing out free teddy bears to the kids. I mean, I felt a little bit like I'm not, but we were able to do a documentary, and that helps raise awareness in money. So I mean that's the part that I can do. But there are times where you know I am jealous of people that are more like hands-on healers. And um but I guess we all do our part. So
Stephen Pulvirent I think you're more than doing your part. I think I think you may be selling yourself a little short there. But uh c coming up, and I know there's not a release date on it yet, uh, and I I won't bug you at all to try to to try to sneakily get released. I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to answer you on that one anyway. I have no idea. But uh you have a a docuseries coming out on Apple TV Plus uh soon-ish, we think. Um the supermodels, uh the kind of catalogs the experiences of of you and some of your contemporaries. Um what what can you tell us kind of as an early look at this series like what can what can people expect and and look forward to well I think the
Cindy Crawford main idea is it's more of a look back on kind of like you know how that supermodel phenomena happened, you know, what cultural forces were taking place that kind of led to this moment. And if you think about the 80s and the excess of the 80s and and cable TV and you know all of a sudden fashion was on TV and you know there was um you know a lot of different things happening that kind of led to this moment of uh the supermodel you know and then what that moment then also kind of unleashed, you know, cut to uh America's next top model, where uh you know, like I didn't even grow up even thinking modeling was a real job, where then, you know Tyra Banks had a show called America's Next Top Model. So every young girl thought, oh, I can be a model. And then we have Instagram where everyone actually is a model. Ye
Stephen Pulvirent ah. Yeah, well that was something I wanted to ask you about. I mean, you know, there there were obviously a lot of phenomena, cable TV and things in in the eighties and nineties that kind of meant everybody was much more visible uh than they had been in the past. And we've obviously seen that explode again over the last decade or so with things like Instagram and TikTok and and other things. You know, as as a person who, you know, your your job is is to be seen in a in a lot of ways and to express yourself through through visual media. How do you how do you see things changing and maybe where do where do you see things going
Cindy Crawford ? It's been interesting because you know my generation of models, it was a very curated, you know, um final image that you know, we weren't followed every second, we weren't documenting every second. There really wasn't even a lot of behind the scenes footage. That wasn't really a thing. Um and you know, you'd take spend all day taking thousands of frames of film and then they would pick the one. So I remember like I didn't I wasn't I didn't really do Facebook or Twitter. It was like, I don't really get this. But when Instagram came out, it was like, oh, I get this. It's visual. Like you said, it's like it's a picture. I I I know pictures. However, it's funny and and my daughter and I I've learned a lot from her about it that because you know, my generation is like you picked the best picture of yourself. You didn't put on like the picture of you like depressed in bed eating like the Hagandas, you know, like that that that wasn't how we, you know, we had like your your public persona forward facing. And but in a weird way, because people are sharing so much more, that unless you share some of like your realness, like then you come off as not being real. And that's like a little bit of a struggle for me. Like I uh don't know how much of like my my true home I mean self that I want to share. It's not like, oh wow I,'m smashing up hotel rooms and you know, crazy at home and you and I put on like this all American girl image. It's just that that just wasn't the way I came into celebrity or whatever you want to call it. And so now it is a little bit like I don't really need to share every little thing. Yeah. But obviously there is a hunger for that. There is an audience for that. But that's so I guess really I like I ask myself, well, who do I want to, how do I want to present myself? And there's no right or wrong answer as long as it resonates with you.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Well I think I think the idea that you get to choose how you present yourself is something that's very different from how things were maybe when you were starting your career. I mean, I know early on there were, you know, your your mole is obviously extremely famous. Uh and in the in the early, early days of your career, I know there were some some you know shoots you did where it was it was retouched out of pictures. Uh and then it was kind of that famous 1986 Richard Abaddon Vogue cover that that changed things. But it's funny to think that like that wasn't your decision to leave the mole in the photograph. It was it was their decision to present you that way. And I wonder how you how you think about that, that like this, this giant the giant media machine that is Condé Nast sort of like made the decision that this was going to be a signature thing for you. Um and it it all went from there versus, you know, what would happen today where like that would be your choice to make. I guess, although like still it
Cindy Crawford 's funny because obviously my daughter is a model and you know she'll someone magazine will do a story on her and she might not like the hair she might not like the makeup it models models don't especially young in your career you don't get to have too much say in what you're wearing or how they're shooting you. Eventually, hopefully you earn their respect and you you can maybe influence, you know, I don't really comfortable in this or hey, let's do it this way, whatever. But that's not how it starts out. And people like I will notice on Kaya's Instagram people saying, Oh, you know, why is she her expression like that, or why is it like this? And it's like, that's the one they chose. Like there were more, you know, it's kind of like we are, and I think that's what's frustrating sometimes for models is we're paint. We're not the paintbrush, we're the person holding the paintbrush. Um you know hope sometimes you can add to the vision, you know, but sometimes you can't. Sometimes they know what they want and they've already said it told you exactly what to do and you just do it. And um so I don't I still don't even think today it would have been my choice totally. I think what the whole mole thing that is most interesting to me is that as a kid I wanted to have my mold removed? I hated it. I got my sisters called it an ugly mark. I got teased about it. And um my mother was like, she was smart. She's like, Yeah, you can get it removed, but you might have a scar and you don't know if that's gonna look like and I was like yeah okay then I went to the first modeling agency and they were like uh I don't know about that mole but we'll do test pictures anyway. Cut to after that first bow cover. It's not that it changed, but it was like because it was like the seal of approval for Vogue, but it also made me stand out from the other models. So in a weird way, the thing that I was most self-conscious of, which was being different, like you know, we all are worried about that, became the thing that helped set me apart. And also that a lot of women have a freckle they don't like or a beauty mark they don't like. And that made them relate to me. So it actually, you know, I think that's the irony is the thing that I was most insecure about, became the thing that actually helped set me apart.. Hmm Ye
Stephen Pulvirent ah, I'd love that. Well we're we're starting to run low on time and I I know you have somewhere to run to after this. Another another Zoom call, no doubt. But uh there are two questions I want to ask before we finish. One's one's selfishly for me and one is for the audience. The the one for me is um you know I'm I'm a photographer, I'm deeply interested in photography, and and I have to ask you, of all the photographers you've worked with over the years, do you have a favorite? Do you have somebody who you feel like is your sort of like closest collaborator and where you're you're most on the same wavelength? You know, I could never
Cindy Crawford pick one, honestly. I could pick a handful. I mean and and for different things. I mean look, I worked with the masters like Irving Penn, Richard Avidon, Stephen Mysel is like a young master, right? I mean Herb Ritz, uh Helmut Newton. I mean um Patrick DeManchelier I adore and he and I have collab collaborated a lot. Um so I would say like just off the top of my head, Sante D'Orazio. Um and then really the first photographer that really taught me not everything I know, but a lot is Victor Skravneski, who passed away earlier this year. And he was from Chicago, but he he I think in a lot of ways he was my first mentor. Hmm. That
Stephen Pulvirent 's incredible. All right. So the the last thing I'm going to ask you and then we'll let you go is uh there there's something I've heard you say quite a few times in interviews when asked about your your lifestyle and that's that you try to be eighty percent good eighty percent of the time. And so what I want to know is what you do when you're being twenty percent bad twenty percent of the time. What are your greatest indulgences in life?
Cindy Crawford Um, margaritas or 'cause I figure if I'm just having costumigos on the rocks, that's that's not that's not too bad. Um I would say chocolate. I mean now it's kind of I'm kind of boring because I've I kind of like now I actually like eating healthy. That is how I choose to eat. It's re it I mean being to me bad it would be you know, eating stuff that I shouldn't or not exercising enough. I mean the other the other bad stuff is just fun. I don'
Stephen Pulvirent t know. Perfect. Well thank you so much for joining us. This is great. I really appreciate you taking the time and and sharing all of this with our No pun intended. Yeah, no pun intended. Good way to end that. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Really appreciate this. And uh thanks. Okay, you too. Thanks. Thank you so much to Cindy for joining us This episode was produced by Grayson Corhonen and was recorded in Los Angeles, California. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference for us. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.