Christy Nicole Turlington Burns was born on 2 January 1969, in Walnut Creek, California USA, to mother María Elizabeth, a flight attendant of Salvadoran descent, and father Dwain Turlington, an airline pilot of European-American descent. She is a supermodel, probably best known for her work for major fashion companies such as Maybelline and Calvin Klein.
A noted supermodel, just how wealthy is Christy Turlington? Sources state that Turlington has acquired a net worth of over $18 million, as of mid-2016. Her fortune has been earned during her modeling career, as well as through several other ventures.
Christy Turlington Net Worth $18 Million
Turlington grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, along with her two siblings. She attended Monte Vista High School in Danville, California and Gallatin School of Individualized Study of New York University, graduating with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. She later enrolled in Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Turlington began her modeling career at the age of 14, being scouted by a photographer while she was riding a horse in Miami, Florida. This led her to land a job at a modeling agency, and two years later she signed with one of the world’s largest agencies, the Ford Models. In 1986 she was featured in “Notorious”, the English band Duran Duran’s music video.
At the age of 18 Turlington moved to New York City to become a professional, full-time model, and around the same time she appeared on the cover of the German edition of Vogue, which brought her international attention. At the age of 20, she signed a seven-figure deal with Calvin Klein, becoming the company’s new face for the fragrance Eternity, and paving her way to became one of the most famous and successful models in the USA. Her net worth was boosted.
In 1992 Turlington signed a deal with the Maybelline company, becoming their new face, which greatly added to her wealth. Shortly after which the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art declared her the “Face of the 20th Century”. During the ’90s, she was featured in a number of professional photobooks, and on the covers of numerous major fashion magazines around the world, such as Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, etc, being presented on the 1999 Millennium cover of Vogue as one of the “Modern Muses”. During this time she also posed nude for PETA’s anti-fur campaign. Turlington went on to appear in campaigns of the worlds greatest fashion names, such as Chanel, Prada, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Maybelline, Marc Jacobs, and many others. Along with models Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, she was often referred to as (one of) the “trinity” of models during this period.
Turlington appeared in a documentary about fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi “Unzipped” and in a mocumentary film “Prêt-à-Porter”, and starred in a documentary about her life as a model, called “Catwalk”. She was also featured in George Michael’s music video “Freedom!”. All intensified her rising net worth.
Aside from her modeling career, Turlington has explored other business ventures as well. During the ’90s she co-partnered with Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, and Claudia Schiffer to open a restaurant chain called Fashion Café. She was a part of an ayurvedic skincare line called “Sundari” and Puma’s clothing line called “Nuala”, adding to her riches.
A huge yoga enthusiast, in 2002 Turlington wrote a book “Living Yoga: Creating a Life Practice”. In 2010 she directed and narrated the documentary “No Woman, No Cry”, portraying maternal health issues within Tanzania, Guatemala, Bangladesh as well as the USA. In 2014 she premiered her second documentary on motherhood, “Every Mile, Every Mother”, and the same year she returned as the face of Calvin Klein, and became the global ambassador for Imedeen’s beauty supplements. Today, in her forties, she still appears in fashion magazines.
In her personal life, Turlington married actor Edward Burns in 2003, and they have two children together. The model is a devoted philanthropist. She has been an Advocate for Maternal Health of the humanitarian organization CARE since 2005. In 2010 she founded a non-profit organization called Every Mother Counts (EMC), aimed at stopping maternal mortality. She ran the New York City Marathon in 2011 to raise awareness for maternal and child health. Aside from being a maternal health activist, Turlington is also an anti-smoking activist and an Ambassador for Product Red.
