Brinkley in November.Photo: Getty Images
Christie Brinkley hasn’t been out in public much since the messy breakup of her marriage, but she planned to reappear tonight, hosting a dinner at Schiller’s Liquor Bar for her daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, before her performance at Mercury Lounge. But now it looks like Brinkley’s debut is going to have to wait. Last night, she underwent emergency back surgery to correct a herniated disc she’d aggravated during an Aspen ski trip over Christmas. (The injury had rapidly worsened over the past few days.) And so she scrambled to find a replacement host. Alexa Ray’s dad, Billy Joel, was on tour and couldn’t make it on time, but Ron Delsener, the legendary promoter who’s Alexa Ray’s godfather, agreed at the last minute to fill in. Brinkley’s Hamptons-set friends are still showing up in force, but the former model won’t be there herself. “I said I would break my back to help my daughter,” she said in a statement, “but I didn’t mean it literally.” —Jada Yuan
