Cindy Crawford was discovered in a Illinois corn field. The teen beauty was working at her summer job, detasseling sweet corn, when a local newspaper reporter snapped her picture. Positive feedback from that first of many photographs convinced the enterprising young woman to leave the world of pollen and rogues (that’s corn talk) for the world of fashion (and rogues). Modelling turned out to be a much more lucrative summer job, and led her, after high school graduation in 1986, to the bright lights of New York.

Back in Chicago, Crawford had done quite well. She was, for instance, a finalist in the Elite Model Management’s Look Of The Year competition (we can’t help wondering who won!). New York, though, was a different deal. In New York she hit model superstardom. She walked the finest fashion runways, graced the covers of more than 400 magazines, and advertised hundreds of products. And after ten years in a business that worships extreme youth, the 33 year old Crawford is still the hottest of properties, earning $6.5 million per year -- that’s one million more than her nearest peer.

Crawford was married to actor Richard Gere for four years, during which time, in 1993, the pair were named Sexiest Couple Alive by the entertainment media. Gere and Crawford divorced a year later. Crawford married restaurateur/nightclub owner Rande Gerber in 1998. Gerber and Crawford have a baby son.