Cindy Crawford Says She Was Making More Money Than Her Parents by the Time She Was 18

Cindy Crawford says that navigating finances early in her career was a “tricky” situation.

The 58-year-old model appeared on the Saturday, May 11, episode of Christy Turlington Burns and Kelly Corrigan’s new five-part podcast series, Kelly Corrigan Wonders: About Your Mother, where she discussed her relationship with her family, as well as her career.

The podcast features guests, including Jennifer Garner, Amy Schumer, Spike Lee and Bono, who reveal intimate details about their relationships with their moms, with a goal of raising $100,000 for Turlington Burns’ organization Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit that advocates for safe maternal and postpartum health care.

During their conversation, Crawford explained to Turlington Burns and Corrigan that she was already making more money than her parents at just 18 years old.

“I started modeling in Chicago, and in Chicago, it’s a small pond, so I was the big fish pretty quickly there,” the supermodel recalled. “And I was making more money than my parents made, more money than they could ever have dreamed of.” 

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She clarified that she reached such a salary “quickly, within a year” of starting out.

Crawford eventually moved to New York, where her career continued to skyrocket.

When asked if making more money than her parents at such a young age created any tension within her family, Crawford said that she felt like she became “the son in a weird way.”

The model’s only brother, Jeffrey, died of childhood leukemia when he was 3 years old. Crawford was 10. She also has two sisters, Chris and Danielle.

“I was able to help where I could,” Crawford continued. “My sisters do not have expectations.”

The model went on to explain that she tries to be careful with buying her sisters lavish gifts because “in a weird way it can emasculate their husbands.”

“If I’m giving my sister a nicer ring than her husband gives them or something like that, it just becomes this weird thing,” she said. “I was more about giving experiences and then helping them if they need a down payment on a house or something like that. My sisters have been awesome because they always paid it back. But navigating being in that financial position where you could do a lot is tricky.”

Every Mother Counts works to help make pregnancy and childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere. To donate, go to everymothercounts.org/donate. Listen to the special five-part podcast series, created in partnership with Kelly Corrigan Wonders wherever you get your podcasts.