What Is Christy Turlington's Net Worth?
Christy Turlington is an American supermodel and actress who has a net worth of $40 million. That is a combined net worth with her husband, actor Edward Burns. Christy Turlington has appeared on over 500 magazine covers and has been featured in several professional photo books. Turlington also appeared in the music videos for Duran Duran's 1986 hit "Notorious" and George Michael's 1990 hit "Freedom!," which also featured Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, and Tatjana Patitz.
(Photo by Nicholas Hunt/WireImage)
Early Life and Education
Christy Turlington was born on January 2, 1969, in Walnut Creek, California. She is the middle child of three daughters born to Pan Am pilot Dwain Turlington and flight attendant María Elizabeth Turlington. María was born in El Salvador. Christy and her siblings were raised Roman Catholic, and she has continued to practice the religion as an adult. She was discovered by a local photographer named Dennie Cody while riding horses in Miami, where her father was working as a training captain for Pan Am. Turlington began modeling after school and during summers while she attended high school at Monte Vista High in Danville, California.
After turning 18, Christy moved to New York City to model full-time but returned to high school later to graduate. In 1994, she went to college and graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study of NYU. Turlington continued her education at the Columbia University School of Public Health some years later.
Modeling Career
Turlington forged a successful modeling career in the '90s, with hundreds of ad campaigns under her belt, including for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Prada, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Maybelline, and several other big names. Christy has also been featured in numerous fashion magazines such as "Vogue," "Marie Claire," "Cosmo," "Allure," "Elle," "Harper's Bazaar," and hundreds more. She appeared in a documentary called "Unzipped" and in a fashion mockumentary film by director Robert Altman called "Prêt-à-Porter." She's appeared in two music videos, one for Duran Duran's "Notorious" and one for George Michael's "Freedom!" video. She was a model investor along with fellow models Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, and Elle Macpherson on the ill-fated restaurant chain Fashion Cafes.
In her later career, "W" magazine put a spread together in honor of Christy's 40th birthday, featuring notable images from her long-spanning fashion career over the late '80s, '90s, and today. In 2008, she was one of the fourteen famous faces to land a cover of "V Magazine." In 2009, Turlington was featured in the Bally Summer 2009 campaign. In the Autumn / Winter 2019 walk for Marc Jacobs, she closed the show. Later that year, she was selected as one of 15 women for the cover of "British Vogue," which was guest-edited by Meghan Markle.
Her modeling legacy lives on. Casting agent James Scully once commented about Turlington, "The greatest model of all time! You could combine every model to this day into one person, and they wouldn't come close (sorry, girls). Probably the biggest crush I've ever had on a girl. It would be a dream to have the opportunity of working with her on a show again before I retire, but that seems about as likely as winning the lottery."
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Other Ventures
In 2005, Turlington began working with the international humanitarian organization CARE and has since become their Advocate for Maternal Health. She also works as an Ambassador for Product Red. She visited Swaziland in May 2007 on behalf of the organization, inspired by her mother, a longtime CARE supporter.
After she suffered unfortunate complications during the 2003 birth of her first child, Turlington was inspired to pursue a Master's degree in Public Health upon learning that over 500,000 women die each year during childbirth and that 90 percent of the deaths are preventable. She participated in a CARE learning tour to Ethiopia in September 2010 to investigate studies being done there to reduce maternal deaths during childbirth. Christy now serves on the Harvard Medical School Global Health Council, and she is an advisor to the Harvard School of Public Health Board of Dean's Advisors. She is also a member of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.
Turlington directed her first documentary in 2010, a film called "No Woman, No Cry," which profiles the status of maternal health in different countries versus in the United States. It premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, and the U.S. TV broadcast premiered on the OWN network on May 7, 2011. Christy was nominated for VH1's Do Something with Style Award for her directorial efforts. Turlington also launched the non-profit organization Every Mother Counts, dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for all mothers across the world. EMC currently has programs in the U.S., along with Indonesia, Uganda, Haiti, and Malawi.
(Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage)
Personal Life
Turlington has been married to actor, director, and writer Edward Burns since 2003. They met at a Hamptons party in 2000, and they were engaged by the end of the year. After a brief breakup in 2002, they reunited and married in San Francisco, with Turlington's good friend Bono of U2 fame in attendance. The couple has two children, Grace and Finn. Turlington's sister Kelly is married to Burns' brother Brian. So they are all, respectively, BOTH in-laws and siblings.
