Photo Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC
Last night was the season opener for Dancing with the Stars Season 28 and aside from former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer stealing the spotlight with his neon highlighter salsa outfit was Christie Brinkley’s daughter Sailor. Christie was originally cast for the show, that is until she fell and broke her arm in rehearsal. That’s when her 21 year old Sports Illustrated model daughter Sailor stepped in and saved the day filling in for her. But it didn’t come without scandal. Yesterday on the Wendy Williams Show, Wendy said she felt the fall was orchestrated to get her daughter in the spotlight, to which Wendy reported today that Christie was highly upset at that claim. And to further her case, hospital pics of Christie are out there of her surgery so… Oops.
And despite Sailor doing well on the show last night, getting her on wasn’t the easiest thing to do either, according to Sailor. “I didn’t want to at first, honestly,” she tells People Magazine. “I was terrified. It was a very scary thing for me. The whole idea of having to be live on stage, be on TV dancing, that’s something I’ve never done before.” “I was so scared, but that was the reason I had to do it,” she continues. “I had to surpass the fear. I had to be stronger than the things that scare me. [My mom] told me to have fun with it and to not let fear stop me from doing any of it,” Sailor adds.
Se wore the same white gown designed for her mother and danced to Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl. “Sailor is truly one fearless, strong, amazing person who just always impresses me,” her mother told People before the premiere. Her hot Russian partner Val Chmerkovskiy went on to talk about what a pleasure working with Sailor has been. “Obviously it was a very extraordinary situation, but it wouldn’t be Dancing with the Stars without a little excitement,” Chmerkovskiy, 33, told PEOPLE. “In fifteen seasons I’ve never had an experience like this.” Still, he said, “I’m glad I did. I’m glad I was the one that was put in this position. I’m really grateful for the challenge and I’m grateful I got to share it with an awesome person like Sailor.”
As for Christie, she reminisced about how during rehearsal she was really enjoying herself. “I’m telling you I was having the time of my life,” she told PEOPLE. “So it was really, really a crushing, crushing disappointment in every way. Literally, figuratively everything that happened. And one of the worst feelings is to feel like you’re letting anybody down, you know?”
And as for Sailor? “I’m doing this mostly for my mom!” Sailor said during the premiere. “I just want to make her happy and make her proud. She loved doing this, she loves dancing and she loves performing and getting hurt was her worst nightmare,” she added.
The fact remains that whether orchestrated or not and whether she was truly interested in doing the show that the world has now been exposed to Sailor and we wish her well on this season. We’re rooting for her and Spicer. Anyone willing to transition from blue suits to something that looks like it would match a Lisa Frank school supply list deserves credit.
