Christie Brinkley won’t be hitting the Dancing With the Stars ballroom floor after breaking her arm during rehearsals, Good Morning America revealed Monday ahead of the show’s premiere. In a statement shared by the morning show, BBC Studios and ABC said, “Brinkley suffered injuries which required surgery to her wrist and arm” that will prevent her from competing alongside her partner.
Her spot won’t be kept empty, however. Daughter Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 21, will step in to dance in her mom’s stead, the studio added.
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“Showbiz is all about getting a break, and Sailor and I both got one on Dancing with the Stars this season,” Brinkley said in a statement, keeping high spirits about her injury. “Sailor joined the cast when I got mine … ouch somebody stop me, it hurts to laugh!”
For Sailor, taking on her mom’s choreography with just hours until the first performance was nothing to take lightly.
“I’m doing this mostly for my mom! I just want to make her happy and make her proud,” she told Good Morning America. “She loved doing this, she loves dancing and she loves performing and getting hurt was her worst nightmare.”
Luckily, mom Christie’s blue bejeweled costume fit perfectly, leaving Sailor with just the steps to nail down ahead of the season premiere Monday.
“I felt this high of just attacking something I was so afraid of and it felt like something I need to do,” she said. “I think it will change me.”
Just hours before the Sport’s Illustrated model suffered her injury, she shared a sassy video of herself in her costume with a fitting quote from Pope Pius, “To live without risk is to risk not living.”
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Watch the younger Brinkley take to the dance floor during Dancing With the Stars‘ live season premiere, airing on ABC Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
Photo credit: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images
