She's among Glamour magazine's women of the year
Liya Kebede & Christy Turlington Burns: The Role Models
by Chelsea Clinton
Sisters in strength: "They share not just beauty," says Chelsea Clinton, "but a common cause and drive."
Around the world approximately 800 women die of childbirth-related causes every day. In 2003 Christy Turlington Burns could have been one of them: While giving birth to her daughter, Grace, she suffered a hemorrhage that, had she not received treatment, might have ended tragically. Growing up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Liya Kebede witnessed that tragic outcome far too often: "When a woman was pregnant, I knew there was a huge risk that she might die."
Turlington Burns and Kebede share, on the surface, a career—as two of the world's most celebrated models. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art once called Turlington Burns the Face of the 20th Century, and at 44, she's still modeling for Calvin Klein Underwear; Kebede, 35, has graced the cover of American Vogue three times and is a face of L'Oréal.) But they are also mothers (each of a son and a daughter), advocates, and change agents. In our conversation, both spoke pas- sionately about the work they're doing in tandem to make motherhood safer for women everywhere.
Turlington Burns founded Every Mother Counts, which helps vulnerable women around the world have safer births. "This really is her life's work," says husband Edward Burns. "And 13 years in, I know that if Christy says she's going to do something, it happens."
Kebede, a former World Health Organization ambassador for maternal and child health, started the Liya Kebede Foundation to support maternal health care throughout Ethiopia, and the results are impressive: In one health center she supports, hospital deliveries increased more than 50 percent in one year, proving that if resources are available, women will use them. "I can say that she is saving lives—confidently," notes her agent and friend Kyle Hagler.
In my travels, I have seen how daunting this issue can be. But as Dr. Helene D. Gayle, president of the nonprofit CARE, says, "When women like Christy and Liya invest themselves, they make the world safer for women and children. It's that simple—and that remarkable."
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Eternal beauty.
