Christie Brinkley: 'I Was Very Close to Severing My Spinal Cord'

Christie Brinkley is sitting down with “Extra” to talk for the first time about the accident that nearly crippled her.

In an exclusive one-on-one, she revealed details about the Aspen ski trip that went terribly wrong.

“I was really lucky,” Christie explained.

After she fell while skiing in Aspen, Brinkley noticed something was wrong.

The supermodel was rushed into emergency spinal surgery after her doctor's visit revealed a severe injury she didn't even know she had.

“When they saw me hobble in there they put me in the MRI,” Christie explained. “And they said, 'Oh my gosh, have you had breakfast today?' and I said, 'An apple,' and they said, 'Fine, you're going straight into surgery.'”

It turns out Christie was close to being paralyzed.

“They said I was very, very close to severing my spinal chord,” she said.

But now Christie, 53, is healthy, happy and radiant, despite that terrifying ordeal and a bitter public bust-up with hubby Peter Cook.

When asked about the secret to her ageless beauty, Christie said she does yoga. She also said she's lucky not to be subjected to the same media pressure as today's super-skinny supermodels and troubled stars like Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie.

“I really think that kind of journalism is what's creating this trend among the young actresses to be hyper-thin and maybe turn toward alcohol and drugs and anorexia in order to cope with this scrutiny,” Christie said.

But Brinkley is not worried about daughter Alexa, who is following in the same showbiz footsteps as dad Billy Joel.