Christie Brinkley Hits Back at ‘Wrinkle Brigade’ in Kindest Way Possible

Christie Brinkley clapped back at the “wrinkle brigade” with kindness. Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, she posted a selfie captioned, “Downtown Girl,” presumably referencing her ex-husband Billy Joel’s hit song, “Uptown Girl.” As a result of social media trolls commenting on her face and images, the 69-year-old actress then updated her caption in response. “Update: Whoa Nelly! The Wrinkle Brigade is out in full force in the comment thread! They are the people that scan celebrities’ pages, hoping to find some cellulite, wrinkles, or anything that they can point to to to critique. It must be some form of compensation for something they are lacking. But when those people appear, there are others who pop up with messages so kind and valuable,” Brinkley wrote. She added, “Those are the comments that restore my faith and make my heart sing! Thank you sweet souls. PS I don’t have hair on my chest obviously ( I thought!) I phone has a tendency to create weird things in the shadow. But so what if I did? Have a great day My Friends!”

There have been other times when Brinkley had talked about positive body image, including in a 2015 interview with AOL Build, in which she stressed the importance of not relying on others to tell people what they should look like, including the Hollywood industry. “I think that my industry has come a long way, although we’re still a little too appreciative of the super, super unhealthfully skinny body. People’s bodies come in every shape and size, and I really believe that all shapes and sizes should be celebrated as long as that’s your natural, healthy weight,” Brinkley said in the interview. It is essential for Brinkley, whose kids Jack and Sailor Brinkley-Cook have both dabbled in modeling, to have a more relaxed attitude towards appearances and how we define beauty.

“If I could say something to my younger self or to my daughters, I always try to say, ‘You know, we’re always so concerned about what ‘they’ think or what ‘they’re’ going to say. Well, who is that, ‘them’? Who are we referring to?’ Because basically, it’s up to us to set our own standards of what’s right for us and be leaders, and not be under this pressure of thinking that we need to fit in to something that maybe we’re not meant to fit into. Maybe we’re meant to be leaders and set examples,” she said. “Right now, what I’m seeing is a real movement of women supporting women, like, really being excited to encourage each other and be there for each other, and I think that that’s really important,” Brinkley added. “I think that that will only lift all of us and make all of us thrive and really shine.”