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Having
worked as a writer with a former news bureau chief of ABC and
personally interviewed Cindy Crawford on many occasions throughout
her varied career, it was a great pleasure to watch as these
two giants came together to create a television show entitled…
Photography by
Bob D’Amico/ABC
Sex with Cindy Crawford
By Kelly
Villoch
Now there’s
a topic that’s guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows!
"Sex with
Cindy Crawford" is a subject that definitely commands
attention the moment the phrase leaps from the page or rolls
off the tongue. Who better to talk about sex than a woman with
one of the world’s most recognizable faces? Supermodel
Cindy Crawford embarked on a whirlwind tour of America’s
sex life in a thought provoking special for the ABC Television
Network. She talked to Americans of all ages and backgrounds,
looking into the country’s simultaneous obsession with
– and ignorance about – sexuality. Uncovering more
than the facts of life, Cindy confessed she was surprised to
learn a great deal from just doing the show. Exactly what could
the young woman who was once upon a time married to actor Richard
Gere (wed in 1991, the couple split amicably in ’94) possibly
learn from doing this show, you ask? Plenty!
Photography
by Bob D’Amico/ABC
The entire production
for ABC’s "Sex with Cindy Crawford" is fairly
straightforward video verisimilitude. Although the format for
this television show is very basic question and answer sequences,
there are a few street corner type discussions with individuals,
couples and educational groups. What is surprising was the candor
of the people being interviewed. Although Cindy’s no slouch
when it comes to getting people to loosen up and chat, sex is
not something people are comfortable discussing with a perfect
stranger…even if she is perfect. As it turns out, people
warm up to Cindy’s persona fast. She really is the girl
next door, only prettier. Once you get around her drop-dead
good looks, Crawford is very easy to talk to because she listens
well. Recognizable, people see her everywhere – from the
slick packaging of cosmetics at your local drugstore, on television
commercials, in the news and as a guest on popular talk shows.
She’s also made a career for herself away from the modeling
world and the notoriously white-hot spotlights of high fashion
runways. An extremely recognizable figure, Cindy is bankable.
A familiar face folks feel comfortable around, she’s also
a major player in the industry that utilizes sex to sell its
product. Well aware of that fact, Cindy is the ideal on-camera
candidate for a show with such a titillating title. She brings
her personal experience and insight of the industry to the production,
and the show expands from there, like an ever-widening ripple
in a pond.
Sometimes special
effects and fancy camera angles take a backseat to the real
life chemistry going on in front of the camera. ABC takes "Sex
with Cindy Crawford" a step beyond the broadcast and deep
into cyberspace with a companion website that fleshes out the
details for all of those who are interested in the subject.
Missed the show on the boob tube? Not a problem. The Internet
will catch you up to speed in a flash! Tasteful visual treats
abound, along with downloadable video clips and audio snippets
of interesting conversations about the topic with stars and
celebrities. The site also discusses points not covered in the
show. An excellent example of an outstanding website design,
the site is well put together and quite informative. Don’t
take my word on it. Judge for yourself and visit online at http://abc.go.com/sex/index.html.
"Sex is as
much a state of mind as an act," says Crawford. "One
of my biggest turn-ons has actually turned out to be not getting
my way. Weird, huh? There’s a time when you must relinquish
control and go with the flow, know what I mean? Whatever floats
your boat. Control has always been very important to me. In
my professional life, I’m very much in control. Someone
once said to me that I wouldn’t always be able to have
my way. I’ve learned that control in an intimate relationship
is not conducive to great sex."
Photography
by Bob D’Amico/ABC
A woman of the
world, Cindy relates that she was having dinner with friends
in France when the presidential sexual scandal broke. "The
French think it’s no big deal and wonder at the naiveté
of we Americans…after all, they say, Mitterand had a mistress
and it was common knowledge. Everyone knew about it and didn’t
think anything about it. No big deal. It was accepted. They
don’t understand the uproar." While Americans believe
themselves to be hip when it comes to the sexual revolution,
sadly, the show reveals that there are gaping holes in what
we say and actually do. "Take nudity, for example. In Europe,
it’s perfectly normal to sunbathe au naturel. But here,
in America, forget about it! Not acceptable. Perhaps it’s
a remnant of our puritanical beginnings, I don’t know.
As a nation, we are certainly opinionated about sex. Sure, we
talk about it and according to statistics, we are having plenty
of it. But from what I’ve discovered doing this show, there
is an astonishing amount of people who have questions about
sex that they are uncomfortable about asking. It’s a subject
they want to know more about but they don’t know how to
ask. I’m not talking about very young people either. To
people from every walk of life and in every age group, sex was
one tough topic to tackle!"
Photo by
Frank Micelotta
MTV allowed Cindy
Crawford to stretch her legs and learn
the business of being the hostess with the most visible
assets on their award winning "House of Style" program.
Photography
by Frank Micelotta
Photography
by Frank Micelotta
Photography
by Frank Micelotta
An accomplished
model, actress, and author, only Cindy Crawford could take the
sometimes-sticky subject of sex and bravely strip off the blinders.
No stranger to fame, Cindy has been the darling of the media
world since placing among the top fifteen finalists in Elite
Model Management’s Look of the Year competition way back
in 1983. Who among us out there didn’t want their MTV,
especially so when Cindy was the hostess on their very popular
"House of Style?" True to form, she’s also a
prolific producer of best selling total body workout tapes.
Photography
by Bridget Duvall-Kennedy
Promoting her book,
Basic Face, at Books & Books
in Miami, Florida, author Cindy Crawford vogues
a pose for the camera.
And speaking of
best sellers, Cindy is extremely proud of her book, Basic
Face, published by Broadway Books. In it Cindy shares foolproof
make-up tips gathered over the years and shows women how to
look their best at any time of day. A labor of love, Crawford
began the book flat on her back in the hospital after an amazing
trip to Africa. "Some tiny bug or amoebae got the best
of me!" In the book, emphasizing "basic" face
techniques, she teaches ways to enhance eyes, cheeks, and lips
to bring out the natural beauty in all women. Filled with color
how-to photos as well as a list of tools and tricks-of-the-trade,
Cindy passes along the invaluable advice of world-renowned makeup
artist and friend, Sonia Kashuk.
She laughs, "When
I was young, I had a very crooked smile. I also had a mole on
my face, which was not considered very beautiful at all. My
sisters called me moleface and I was very self-conscious about
it. We all tend to look at the things we don’t like. When
I have a zit, I feel awful. I’ll go into a shoot with my
head down and before the makeup artist can say anything, I apologize
for this horrendous thing on my face. Inevitably, they say,
‘Where is it? What are you talking about?’ The point
is that whatever you think everyone is staring at is much worse
and much larger to you than it is to them! It’s a matter
of learning to look at the bigger picture and turn your thinking
around."
Photography by
Jon Farmer
Sitting by the dock
of the bay in Miami on the set of Warner
Brother’s film "Fair Game."
Photography
by Jane Bovingdon
Getting cozy with
"Fair Game’s" William Baldwin.
Photography
by Jon Farmer
Making the most
of an onscreen moment in "Fair Game,"
Cindy hides out from the bad guys inside a seedy Miami
Beach hotel.
Well known as an
international spokesperson for Revlon, Cindy’s look is
legendary. Her annual calendar is a thing of beauty. The subject
of many a fashion shoot in Miami, how very appropriate that
Cindy’s feature film debut began on our sunny shores with
William Baldwin as her leading man in Warner Brothers’
action-thriller, "Fair Game."
On May 29th
in 1998, a radiant Cindy Crawford, 32, married restaurateur
Rande Gerber (36), in a private ceremony on the pristine beach
of Paradise Island’s secluded 58-room Ocean Club Resort.
The couple exchanged traditional vows and white-gold bands.
Looking as lovely as ever, the bride was barefoot and wore an
off the rack, spaghetti-strapped, ecru lace mini-confection
by Galliano set off with a Valentino shawl. She carried a simple
cluster of dendrobium orchids and fragrant frangipani. Close
friends feasted on seafood, pasta and roast beef, then cut into
a three-tiered carrot cake – Cindy’s favorite. The
happy couple had a weekend honeymoon then returned to the white-hot
spotlight of their Hollywood world.
Photography
by Bob D’Amico/ABC
Sitting pretty,
Cindy Crawford takes five on the set of ABC’s
latest venture with the red-hot mega model.
Proving that her
brain doesn’t take a back seat to her beauty, the star
of ABC’s "Sex with Cindy Crawford" is certain
to raise the nation’s consciousness if not it’s blood
pressure.
Photography
by Bridget Duvall-Kennedy
Writer, director,
producer and award winning creator of
high-end 2-D and 3-D computer graphics and animations,
Kelly Villoch of Beach Point Productions can be reached via
e-mail at beachn@worldnet.att.net.
An integral part of the
South Florida television/film and advertising/marketing
industry, she’s pictured here (left) with actress
Nicolette Sheridan (right) on location at the Raleigh Hotel
in Miami Beach.
All images supplied
by Kelly Villoch.
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