Sailor Brinkley-Cookmay be upset to leaveDancing with the Stars, but she still has a positive outlook on the situation — thanks in part to her motherChristie Brinkley!
“I’m so lucky I had this experience,” the model continued. “I never in a million years would’ve thought I would have been on this show. I didn’t sign up, I didn’t do the press trip before. I literally jumped in for the first performance.”
“And I’m just lucky that I made it to week six and I got to experience all of that, and I think she’s really happy that I’m looking at it that way, as well,” Sailor added of her mother, 65.
Sailor Brinkley-Cook and Val Chmerkovskiy.ABC/Eric McCandless
Four days before theDWTSseason 28 premiere on Sept. 16, Christie was in dance rehearsals with Chmerkovskiy, 33, when she tripped over his foot andbroke her arm “into a thousand little pieces.”
Unable to perform with her injury, Sailor stepped in and took her place — but shortly after,Wendy Williamsclaimed that the incident was planned and Christie’s fall looked “fake as hell.”
“Let me tell you what I see. I don’t see a wrist and a shoulder being fractured. But that was real cute,” she said during the season 11 premiere of her talk show. “Here’s my thought:Dancing with the Starscalled Christie Brinkley … and she said yes.”
“After she got off the phone, that’s when she plotted her schedule,” Williams continued. “In my opinion, I think what Christie did was she signed up forDancing with the Starsknowing that she’d put her daughter Sailor in there.”
The mother-daughter duo has continuously denied Williams’ claims, with Sailorcalling the accusations “insane”while Christie went so far as to postphotos of her injury to prove that she was not lying.
Eric McCandless/ABC
When asked about her thoughts on the situation on Tuesday, Sailor said she was still struggling to understand how someone could think her mother would lie about the injury.
“I think it was a little ridiculous because it was such a situation where it was like, ‘How?'” Sailor explained. “My mom is not that type of girl. If anyone knows her, she’s pretty open with her fans and everything. She’s very genuine, she’s very real and for her to put on a cast and walk around like it’s fake, it’s wild.”
“But anyone who spews hatred needs more love so love ya, girl,” she added.
Chmerkovskiy also noted that “no one is expecting an apology fromWendy Williams” and that Christie already has her sights set on competing on the show next season.
“When it happened, 30 seconds into her literally shattering her arm, she asked, ‘Can I do this next season?'” he recalled. “She was having a blast and it’s funny now we’re talking about Sailor’s exit, but let’s not forget how it all began and not forget Christie’s exit. That exit was fairly traumatic, as well.”
A rep for Williams did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Sailor Brinkley-Cook with Christie Brinkley and Wendy Williams.Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Dominik Bindl/Getty
Hours after speaking with PEOPLE on Tuesday, Sailor opened up about her shocking elimination on her Instagram and revealed that while she was “heartbroken that it’s over,” she was also feeling very “blessed” for the opportunity.
“Hi, guys … I want to say thank you to everyone who voted for me every week and supported me and showed me so much love over Instagram,” she began the series of videos on her Instagram Stories. “My castmates for continuously supporting me. I showed up out of nowhere and I was a nervous wreck and you guys really made me feel at home and feel safe in a situation I was terrified of.”
“But I am so happy that I was able to experience this,” Sailor went on. “I am so happy that I was blessed enough to have this come into my life, even in such an unfortunate situation, and I am so excited to see all my friends blossom out there and shine. I will be supporting you guys, I will be watching on Mondays.”
Sailor Brinkley-Cook.sailor brinkley cook/Instagram
In a final clip, Sailor discussed what she had learned while competing onDWTS.
“I just wanna say if there’s any lesson to be learned from my experience on this show, it’s to never let anything that you’re afraid of hold you back from going out there and trying it,” she told her followers.
“Life is crazy and you are going to be sad, you are going to be angry, you are going to be terrified. But if you try these things — I feel like my world has opened up and I never would’ve done this and I’m really happy that I did.”
“Whatever came over me brought me to this situation,” she finished. “I don’t want anyone out there to ever let their fears hold them back ’cause life’s too big and too grand and too awesome to stray away from.”
The model alsoshared a series of photosfrom her final performance with Chmerkovskiy on her Instagram and captioned the slideshow, “…At least we went out with a bang 😉💥.”
source: people.com
