The first of America’s homegrown “supermodels” officially became a sexagenarian on September 25, 2007. Talk about being sexy at 60! Here is an icon for women of her generation and others that have followed her lead. Living proof that 60 really is the new 40, Cheryl Tiegs has transformed her glamorous public persona over the years into that of a successful businesswoman and a “model” spokesperson for the health and fitness industry. 

Committed to the principle that “beauty has no age boundary,” Cheryl recently launched a new line of skincare products called “Ageless Woman by Cheryl Tiegs,” which includes the breakthrough Ageless Woman Deep Wrinkle Relaxer. Cheryl practices the health regimen she preaches through daily meditation and exercise, particularly yoga and hiking. Her busy philanthropic agenda includes memberships on the board of C.O.A.C.H. for Kids and t he Earth Conservation Corps. She also speaks on behalf of the City of Hope and the International Planned Parenthood Foundation. Along the way, Cheryl wrote The Way to Natural Beauty, and created Sports Illustrated’s exercise video, “Aerobic Interval Training,” in which she also appears.

Cheryl Rae Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota in 1947, officially making her a second year Baby Boomer. When she was five, her family moved to California, and by the time she was 17, her sleek 5’10” frame was gracing the covers of Glamour, Seventeen, and Elle—epitomizing the fresh-faced California girl of that period. Before long, Cheryl had climbed her way up the high fashion ladder to countless photo layouts in Vogue and Bazaar—and eventually to international fame. She was the first model to appear three times on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, a gig she repeated for years into the future. Her appearance in the 1978 issue caused a particular stir when she posed in a fishnet swimsuit that turned out to be more revealing than she had bargained for. But her most famous swimsuit pose was a poster shot in a red hot pink bikini, which rivaled the sizzle fired up by a cheesecake shot of Farrah Fawcett at the height of her own red hot career. In 1996, Cheryl made an encore appearance in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and that same year More magazine signed her for a cover shot in a barely-there bikini.  

Trailblazing on many levels, Cheryl’s career is shining proof that you can be successful, significant, and sexy at whatever age you happen to be at any given moment. In 1979, she was 32—an age that was and still is considered over-the-hill for a high fashion model. That was the year she chose to start a signature line of clothing and accessories for Sears outlets nationwide. Over the following ten-year period, the company sold nearly a billion dollars’ worth of merchandise, and earned Cheryl a cover story in Time magazine. Her decision to go the “mass market” route was controversial but wise, at it turned out, and ultimately served as inspiration to a legion of models and celebrities that were to follow in her famous footsteps: Shalom Harlow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jennifer Lopez, to name just a few.

Over the years, Cheryl served as spokesmodel for Cover Girl makeup, and eventually developed her own line of wigs for Revlon. She had also made guest appearances on NBC’s “Just Shoot Me,” Oxygen’s “Girls Behaving Badly,” and she hosted the Travel Channel’s 13-part travel adventure series, “Pathfinders: Exotic Journeys.” Other TV appearances have focused on issues of fitness, fashion, and beauty. On Deepak Chopra’s “Renewal: A Time for You,” she offered healthy lifestyle advice for women in transition.

Married four times, Cheryl has a son Zach from her third marriage, to Tony Peck—son of late actor Gregory Peck—and in July 2000, at age 52, she made headlines by becoming the mother of twins with her fourth husband Rod Stryker, courtesy of a surrogate mother. 

Beautiful, brainy, productive, proactive, charitable, and courageous, Cheryl Tiegs is the definitive Sexy Sexagenarian.