Cynthia Ann Crawford was born on February 20th, 1966, in DeKalb, Illinois. Her parents, John and Jennifer, divorced when she was young, and she and her three siblings spent time living on welfare. Crawford’s younger brother Jeff died of leukemia, which led her to devote herself to fundraising for leukemia charities in later life. She always believed in hard work, and did well at school. When Crawford was sixteen a newspaper photographer took a photo of her at her summer job pollinating corn. Upon seeing the photograph many people advised Cindy that she should consider becoming a model. Out of curiosity, she entered the John Casablanca's Look of the Year competition and came in second.

By this time, Crawford was already established as one of the world's top models. She is generally considered to have been one of the original five supermodels, along with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, and Christy Turlington. Crawford has appeared on the covers of magazines including Vogue, ELLE, Harper's Bizarre, People, and Allure. In 1988 she shocked the world by agreeing to pose naked for Hugh Hefner in Playboy. Though it drew criticism from some feminists, the gamble paid off, raising Crawford's profile.

In 1991, Crawford married actor Richard Gere, who was then at the pinnacle of his career after appearing in Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts. The couple were together for three years, though it was rumored that the marriage had been arranged to hide their homosexuality, which Crawford denied. Refusing to be told what to do, and having always been an advocate of gay rights, Crawford went on to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair with k.d. lang. Eight years later Crawford married nightclub owner Rande Gerber, with whom she has two children.

YUDDY