Christie Brinkley Reveals What Initially Drew Her To John Mellencamp

This "Uptown Girl" has a thing for cowboys.
Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp = proof that opposites attract.
Myrna M. Suarez via Getty Images
Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp = proof that opposites attract.

There’s something about John Mellencamp. Just ask his girlfriend Christie Brinkley.

In the latest issue of People magazine, the supermodel says that when she first met the 64-year-old rockstar last year, she was a bit taken aback by his presence.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re really opposites. He’s kind of a throwback from another time, like a silent cowboy,” Brinkley, 62, said. “But then we talked and realized that we do have a lot of shared interests.”

For starters, there’s no huge age gap between them, so conversation comes naturally.

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Mellencamp and Brinkley take a stroll in New York City in April 2016.
Robert Kamau via Getty Images
Mellencamp and Brinkley take a stroll in New York City in April 2016.

“I know guys that go out with girls that are so, so young. They’ll throw some reference out, and they’re like, ‘What’s that?’” she said. “When it comes to relationships, there is something nice about just being the same age.”

The couple also both have kids from previous marriages: Mellencamp has been married three times and has five kids and six grandkids. Brinkley has three kids and has been married four times, most famously to singer Billy Joel. Her fourth marriage, to architect Peter Cook, ended in a bitter divorce in 2008 and a drawn-out custody battle ― all of which has made the model wary of marriage.

Though she’s previously sworn off wedded bliss (”With what I know, I don’t see why anyone would get married,” she told Ladies’ Home Journal in 2009), these days, she’s not even willing to discuss the matter.

“I’m leery of discussing my relationship because I don’t want to jinx it,” she told Howard Stern when asked about marrying Mellencamp in November 2015. “And I feel like I was so dragged through the press that I [don’t want that again].”

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