Supermodel Niki Taylor Opens Up About Life In Nashville, Being A Grandma With Her Sister Krissy (Exclusive)

BEAR YOUR EAR

• Niki Taylor talks about her life now at the age of 51, more than three decades after becoming one of the world’s most sought-after models.

• The mother of four (and grandmother of one) says she loves the quiet life in Nashville, where she can balance work and motherhood.

• She also remembers her “best friend,” sister Krissy, who died at age 17 of heart failure

In the 1990s, there was no other model like Nicole “Niki” Taylor, who became one of the most famous fashionistas in the world after she decorated Seventeen he was only 14 years old.

At the age of 15, she became one of the youngest women ever to be on the cover of Vogueand when he was 16, he was named one of the Most Beautiful PEOPLE. At the age of 17, she became the only woman to decorate six billboards in Times Square at the same time.

When she wasn’t walking the runway and posing for fashion shows, the South Florida native was also the face of brands like Cover Girl, Escada. Liz Claiborne, Thierry Mugler, Versace, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Anne Klein, L’Oreal, Gap, Lee, and Pantene.

In a new interview, she tells PEOPLE that balancing her young life and modeling career was difficult.

“In a way, I was living two different lives,” Taylor, now 51, says of her earlier modeling days, joking that she was in PEOPLE magazine while incarcerated. “I was trying to fit in at my high school, but then I’d show up on set and all the other models I was looking at were 10 years older than me. There’s no book to deal with that.”

He says he was very fortunate to have a very supportive family – father Ken, a former highway patrol officer and mother Barbara, a photographer – and a loyal boss.

“I was so young that I was always with an adult,” he says of role models around the world. “When my father walked in the room people noticed. He was a strong man, handsome, but gentle. And so together with him and my mother and my boss Jean I had a solid support group around me.”

He doesn’t know that other brands in the 1990s were so lucky.

“The stories of bad behavior are heartbreaking to hear and make me even more grateful for all the support I’ve had,” she says.

He was also grateful to have the support of his family after the tragic death of his younger sister, for example Krissy Taylor, who died of an undiagnosed heart condition aged just 17 in 1995.

“I don’t know how we got through it, but time has helped,” he says of the tragedy.

“I think about her often. Like when I see a lifted truck, a sunflower, an old country song, sundresses, the beach, a certain smell in the air… yes, often. In many ways, Krissy and I had a special relationship that was almost like being twins, even though she was younger than me. I think anyone who knows Krissy knows that she was my best friend.”

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Today, Taylor likes to live a very low-key life out of the limelight in Nashville, with her racing car driver husband Burney Lamar, whom she married in 2006, and their daughter Ciel, 17, and son Rex, 14.

She is also mother to twin boys Hunter and Jake, 31, whom she adopted when she was 19, after marrying her first husband, football player Matthew Martinez in 1993. (They divorced in 1996.)

“I always wanted to be a mother when I was young,” she says of having her first children during her career. “When I had twins it was amazing. I grew up around them. Seeing Jake and Hunter grow into the men they are today makes me happy.”

She was also very proud to be a (adorable!) grandmother in 2025 when her son Hunter and his wife welcomed a baby boy.

“My grandson Nico is sweet!” he says. “She already has eight teeth, and she’s very smart and a great dancer. It’s special to see your child become a wonderful parent. The love in their home is special, and I spend as much time as I can with them.”

After his successful career in the 1990s, he says he is enjoying a quiet life in the south.

“I like solitude and I’ve always been lonely,” she says. “I live life at a much more natural pace than I did in the 90s. I’m thankful that I was busy, but I was away from my sons Jake and Hunter more than I wanted to be. With Ciel and Rex I feel like I’ve had a lot of family and work balance. “

He is also setting an example.

“My day is simple,” she says. “Being a mom, working out and working out pretty much define my days. Someone once said that you spend the first 40 years earning, and the last 40 years getting easier. I still love the fashion business, but I love coming home to my family.”

Read the original article on People