Fans of Dancing With the Stars were shocked when Christie Brinkley dropped out of the show due to injury just hours before the season 28 premiere on Sept. 16, with her daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 21, stepping in to replace her. After five months, the 66-year-old finally took to Instagram to showcase the dance she was planning to perform — which was set to her ex-husband Billy Joel‘s song, Uptown Girl. “Ok here I am in a rehearsal video from my time with Dancing With the Stars. I had so much fun trying to get my two left feet to cooperate! I loved dancing to #uptowngirl and I loved getting to know Val [Chmerkovskiy], his rapping and poetry revealed a sensitive and caring heart and he was such a patient teacher and I loved every second of the process before I fell and broke my arm to smithereens,” Christie captioned the video posted on Feb. 26.
“That was not the kind of smash I was hoping for,” she added. The proud mom went on to say the “silver lining” of her injury was “solid gold” as she got to watch Sailor step up and take her place “[She] has never had dance lessons, but could always move , waltz in literally and learn my routine in 10 hours and fall in love with #dance! Now THAT #uptowngirl can REALLY dance.” The clip, which was filmed in a rehearsal studio, shows Christie in a long-sleeved white top, a long cream skirt with a large slit, and small pumps. She also wore her hair in a half up/half down style, as she waltzed like a pro with her partner Val. It’s such a shame audiences didn’t get to see Christie takes a stage following her horrible injury. This video clearly proves she’s an awesome dancer, and certainly doesn’t have “two left feet” as she mentioned in this caption!
Nevertheless, the former supermodel had no choice but to hand the reigns to her daughter, after requiring emergency surgery. “She is unable to continue her planned participation on the show,” ABC said in a statement in Sept. 2019. “Keeping it all in the family, her daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, a Sports Illustrated model, has chosen to quickly step in with hours to learn the entire routine and will compete in her mother’s place for the remainder of the season.” Christie broke her silence about the situation soon after the announcement. “I just broke my arm into 1,000 pieces requiring surgery with a metal plate and screws to hold my arm together…I’m so sorry!” Christie wrote on Instagram, explaining that Sailor stepped up when her mom needed her most.
Christie also made sure to include Sailor’s DWTS tour dates as part of the carousel post on Instagram! Although she was eliminated on the Oct. 21 episode, she will join her fellow contestants on a tour of the US, beginning in New Orleans on March 5.