‘DWTS’ Alum Sailor Brinkley-Cook Apologizes for ‘Tone Deaf’ ‘Good Morning America’ Interview

Sailor Brinkley-Cook is apologizing for the “tone deafness” of her recent Good Morning America interview in which she discussed her body image issues and the difficulties she had growing up and being compared to mom Christie Brinkley. Hours after the interview aired Friday, the Dancing With the Stars alum called the edited version of her interview “click bait” on Instagram, saying she did not mean to try and overshadow people’s struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd protests.

“I’m a little upset about the GMA piece that aired this morning,” she wrote in an Instagram Story, as per Us Weekly. Adding that she has “nothing but respect” for the morning show and Deborah Roberts, Brinkley-Cook said when she agreed to do the interview, she was under the impression “that it would be in a positive light and would be inspirational.” She continued, “I ONLY agreed to do it during this awful time in America because I thought it would be a small beacon of positivity for people who have dealt with the same things as me.”

The model added she did not want to “throw a pity party for myself” or be “highlighting the dark times,” claiming that 95 percent of what she said during the video chat was cut, including her expression of gratitude to health care and essential workers.” She concluded with an apology for the “tone deafness,” adding that her only intent was to offer solidarity for people facing similar mental health issues.

“We have to collectively learn to praise and CELEBRATE ourselves more often, because life passes by so quickly and it’s a shame to spend so much of it worrying that you aren’t good enough,” she wrote. “Because as long as you’re here on Earth and you have a body to love and voice to be heard YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH and you deserve happiness.”

This isn’t Brinkley-Cook’s first time defending herself on social media amid the coronavirus pandemic. The influencer defended wearing an N95 mask while out in New York amid the PPE shortage, saying her mother had a “stash” of the masks in her studio because of her work as an artist. “She kept one mask for each one of our family members and then donated the rest to local hospitals,” Brinkley-Cook wrote on Instagram in April, adding, “I have one mask. My boyfriend has one mask. And we are VERY grateful to have one and are donating daily to organizations helping to create masks. When we go to the grocery store or out on a walk we wear them so that, god forbid if we might have it and don’t know, we don’t spread it to someone less able to fight it off. Please stop sending hateful messages, and stay safe.”