Cindy City
Tuesday, June 9, 1998 | 10:04 a.m.
Being a supermodel, actress, spokeswoman, businesswoman and wife is a lot for one person to juggle, but that is exactly what Cindy Crawford does.
"My schedule is both the best and the worst," Crawford said in her suite at the Desert Inn hotel-casino recently. "Sometimes I think about my schedule and say 'Oh my God, what are you doing?' This last week I was in L.A., New York and London."
The ex-Mrs. Richard Gere was in London for a Planet Hollywood opening before catching the Concorde back to New York, then heading to the Bahamas to wed longtime friend Rande Gerber on May 30.
After only a week, Crawford was back to her usual breakneck pace as she arrived in Las Vegas to promote her newly redesigned Omega Constellation watch.
"Obviously Omega is very important to me or I wouldn't be here one week after I was married," Crawford said at the Omega press conference at the Desert Inn.
Crawford has had a longstanding relationship with Omega and has traveled to India, Japan, China and Switzerland to promote the company's products. The press conference marked the first time that Crawford represented Omega in America.
Along with Omega, Crawford also represents Pepsi and Revlon -- the latter's cosmetics ads ("...and it won't kiss off on him!") are ubiquitous on TV -- which adds to her busy schedule. Although the interests of these companies keep Crawford busy, she says she is able to keep pace.
"As I've gotten older," the 32-year-old said, "I've definitely slowed down a little. On the other hand, what I do is so exciting and that's why I do it."
One area of her career that Crawford is excited about is a newly-signed deal to develop a TV interview show for ABC. The program, Crawford said, might air in September and, if everything goes well, could become a series.
"It's going to be a special that sets up conversations with the guests and myself," Crawford said. "It's not really an interview show. It's more about the conversations and it doesn't have a journalistic slant."
Television is not a new arena for Crawford: She was a longtime fixture on MTV's "House of Style" fashion program.
"Looking back, I've been lucky in my career and MTV was a very good break for me," Crawford said. "My focus right now is TV and on maintaining my long-term relationships with Omega, Revlon and Pepsi."
For companies to secure Crawford as a spokesperson, the image that company represents has to be right, the supermodel said.
"When I take a job it is very important that the images don't conflict," Crawford said. "For example, I wouldn't be a spokesperson for cigarettes because I don't want to promote smoking to children and that image conflicts with the health and beauty image that I have for Revlon.
"But women that wear Revlon may wear an Omega watch and drink Pepsi. There has to be a synergy between the images."
Crawford traveled to Bienne, Switzerland, to help design the image of the new Constellation watch so that it would represent what she believes women want in a watch.
"I learned a lot about how watches and jewelry are made while I was in Switzerland," Crawford said. "They wanted my opinion and we made a few small adjustments to the watch so that it better suited my personality."
One of the best parts of her fame, Crawford said, is the chance to participate in projects that are new to her.
"I do like to take chances and that's just a part of my attitude," Crawford said. "Sometimes I do things because I'm scared of them."
One of those scary instances for Crawford was making her first movie, "Fair Game." The 1995 action flick, co-starring William Baldwin and directed by Joel Silver, was a Cold War-era throwback that cast Crawford as a lawyer on the run from KGB thugs in Miami. Along with Baldwin as a cop protecting her, Crawford dodged bombs and bullets in a film that failed to launch a movie career and received a collective sniff from dismissive critics.
"I was afraid to do the film but I wanted the experience," Crawford said. "I was doing really well as a model at the time and some would ask, 'Why rock the boat?' But I decided that I was too young to be scared about taking chances."
Crawford said that the film helped strengthen her friendship with Baldwin and taught her how hard it is to make a movie.
"My hat is off to everyone in that business," Crawford said. "It was the hardest I've ever worked and that made it a challenge."
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