The tragic story of 90s model sisters Nicky and Chrissy Taylor

In the 90s, Nicki became one of the most recognizable models. She walked the catwalks of the most famous brands, starred for endless covers, and billboards with her face adorned in Times Square. Chrissy followed in her footsteps.

Niki Taylor was born on March 5, 1975 in Florida. She had a sister, Chrissy, three years her junior.

When Niki was 13, her mother took model photos of her daughter while vacationing in Mexico. Nicky liked to pose. Later, she recalled that she then realized that she would like to do this all her life. The girl spent pocket money on glossy magazines to practice posing and improve her skills. In the meantime, my mother sent photos of Nicky to modeling agencies.

The fashion world did not immediately accept it. Niki recalled that she often received rejections, because she did not meet the requirements.

“I was told I was ‘too young’, that they were looking for a more European type, that I was ‘too commercial’,” Niki recalled in an interview with Fashionista.

But in the end, luck smiled on him. A Miami Beach agency, which had previously refused Nicky, this time offered to cooperate.

From this moment, the professional career of the young model is developing rapidly. First she started shooting for catalogs, then she won the Fresh Faces modeling competition in New York, then a $500,000 modeling contract followed. At the age of 14, Nicky made the cover of Seventeen magazine. And the following year, she was already on the cover of Vogue, making her the second youngest model to achieve such success after Brooke Shields.

The secret of Taylor’s popularity lies in the image of a simple American girl from a nearby yard – kind, but self-confident, sociable and open. She was nicknamed “Baby Cindy” for her resemblance to Cindy Crawford.

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Nicky’s younger sister, Chrissy, who was 11 at the time, also started going on set with her. The girl was noticed by photographers who began to photograph her, often offering her sisters to pose together. Soon Chrissy also performed for Seventeen. And his career took off. Arrived for the fashion week in Milan with her sister, she quickly finds herself on the catwalks – and thus begins her professional career in her own right. Chrissy began to constantly participate in fashion shows, did not leave the bright covers and soon, like her sister, signed a contract with the largest model agency IMG.

At the same time, Niki continues to set fashion records: at the age of 16, she became the new face of L’Oréal, making her the youngest model to sign a multi-million contract dollars with the mark. In 1992, she made history with CoverGirl by becoming the first model under the age of 18 to sign a major contract with the brand.

The advertising campaigns of hatched fashion houses follow one another with his participation: Thierry Mugler, Escada, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Anne Klein and many others.

Niki moved around such models as Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Christy Turlington, and the next day she was already living the life of an ordinary high school girl.

“I always came home, I didn’t move to New York or Los Angeles to go to school and play sports and be normal. The family helped me not to forget my roots, to remember who I really was,” Niki recalls.

When Nicky was 18, she met former football player Matt Martinez. Three months later, they eloped to Las Vegas to get married. The following year, Nicki gave birth to twins.

The delivery was difficult and she was prescribed painkillers. Taylor recalled that it was a turning point that changed her life – now she knew how to deal not only with physical pain, but also with stress.

Then, as her marriage began to fall apart, Niki faced another tragedy. She was 20 when she found 17-year-old Chrissy on the floor of the family’s Florida home.

Although asymptomatic, the model’s younger sister died of a rare heart condition, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD).

“The biggest tragedy and loss in my life was the death of my younger sister. We were very close. We worked together. We did everything together. I miss her very much,” Nicki later said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In an attempt to cope with the loss, Niki resumed taking prescription painkillers. And gradually became dependent on them.

However, work continued. In May 1996, she appeared simultaneously on the covers of six magazines: Allure, Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire, Self and Shape.

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Just six years after losing her sister, Nicky nearly died herself in a car crash. Her friend was driving her home from a club on a rainy night when he crashed into a power pole.

“He wasn’t driving fast at all, and I thought I was fine until I got out of the car and felt terrible pain in my stomach. I was taken to hospital The doctors determined that the seat belt had torn my liver in half, I was bleeding internally,” Niki recalls.

The model also suffered a lung injury. In the 24 hours since the accident, she underwent three surgeries – and died twice on the operating table. Medical staff were able to bring her back to life, but it was only the beginning of a long and difficult recovery.

Niki underwent more than 50 surgeries over the next three years and had two steel rods implanted in her back. And again, prescription painkillers were his best helpers.

In 2001, Niki moved to Tennessee with her sons. And the following year, 2002, she met country singer Keith Urban. Their relationship quickly became serious. They even made paired tattoos – the inscriptions “Love conquers all”. And Nicky starred in Urban’s video for his song Somebody Like You.

During the same period, Taylor began to develop her career – she founded her own company, Begin Enterprises, Inc., launched a perfume line, a clothing boutique and a charity division.

Nicky and Urban lived together for two years before going their separate ways. The reason for this was the excessive employment of both – according to Nika, they saw each other very rarely.

Urban married Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman in 2006. That same year, Nicki married former NASCAR driver Bernie Lamar, having met him at an autograph session a few months prior. They had two children: a daughter, Sil, and a son, Rex.

Niki tried her hand at acting, and in 2016 she returned to the modeling world, performing for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.

“I laugh a lot. I focus on the positive. And I enjoy every moment,” Taylor says of herself today.

Having survived several tragedies, Niki has definitely learned to enjoy life.

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