Yahoo News Sailor Brinkley-Cook Responds to 'Tone Deaf' GMA Interview: '95% of What I Said Got Cut'
Sailor Brinkley-Cook is disappointed with her most recent interview.
On Friday, the 21-year-old model appeared on Good Morning America where she opened up to ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts about battling body dysmorphia and constantly being compared to her famous mom, Christie Brinkley. But just hours after the segment aired, Brinkley-Cook expressed her disappointment at the editing of the video on her Instagram Story, calling it “tone deaf” and accusing GMA of using misleading taglines for “click bait.”
“I’m a little upset about the GMA piece that aired this morning. I have nothing but respect for GMA and Deborah, and have nothing negative to say about either one. But I wanted to set some things straight,” Cook said after giving her first-ever live interview about the sensitive topic.
Sailor Brinkley/Instagram
Sailor Brinkley/Instagram
During the segment, Brinkley-Cook explained that she puts self-worth in her physical appearance and sometimes feels “disgusted” when she looks in the mirror due to body dysmorphia. Brinkley-Cook also said her famous mom wasn’t fully aware of the severity of her disorder, and that constantly being compared to the iconic Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, 65, only made matter worse.
Good Morning America Twitter
But the young model claims she did not intend for those revelations to be the focus of her GMA interview, especially amid the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and racially charged police brutality.
“I understand that “comparisons to model mom” and “eating disorder struggles” are great taglines for click bait on news outlets. But when I agreed to do this interview I was under the impression that it would be in a positive light and would be inspirational,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “I ONLY agreed to do it during this awful time in America because I thought it would be a small beacon of positivity for people who have dealt with the same things as me.”
Madison McGaw/BFA.com Christie Brinkley and Sailor Brinkley-Cook
She continued, “I did NOT want to throw a pity party for myself. I did NOT want the interview to be highlighting the dark times. 95% of what I said during the interview got cut. Including thank you to health care workers & essential workers, as well as acknowledging how awful and heartbreaking this time is for so many.”
RELATED: Sailor Brinkley-Cook Has Been Struggling with 'Body Dysmorphia' and 'Eating Disorder Tendencies'
Brinkley-Cook also apologized for the “tone deafness” of the interview and said she would’ve chosen to highlight the inspirational soundbites, “rather than the explanation of what I went through as a 15 year old,” if she had been in charge of the editing.
“I wanted to be a voice for people who are facing their mental illnesses and body image issues head-on right now in isolation,” she added.
Sailor Brinkley Cook Instagram
At the end of her lengthy statement, Brinkley-Cook shared one of her quotes from the interview that was cut out of the finale GMA segment with fans and followers: “We have to collectively learn to praise and CELEBRATE ourselves more often, because life passes by so quickly and it’s a shame to spend so much of it worrying that you aren’t good enough.”
“Because as long as you’re here on Earth and you have a body to love and voice to be heard YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH and you deserve happiness,” she concluded.
