Sailor Brinkley-Cook took over for her mom on the ABC competition series.
Wendy Williams is skeptical about Christie Brinkley's sudden Dancing With the Stars exit.
Ahead of DWTS' season 28 premiere on Monday, the 55-year-old host expressed disbelief on her talk show, claiming that Christie's injury during a rehearsal for the competition wasn't real. ABC announced Christie's exit from the show hours ahead of its premiere, sharing that the 65-year-old model "suffered injuries which required surgery to her wrist and arm," adding that her 21-year-old daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, would take her place.
"I am watching Dancing With the Stars tonight. They actually did pick a pretty good cast... Christie Brinkley -- she's 65, friend to the show, personal friend in my head and the whole social life -- she fractured her shoulder and her wrist at practice over the weekend," Wendy said, before showing video of the moment Christie's injury occurred.
"Well that looked fake as hell! OK?" Wendy exclaimed in response to the video. "Let me tell you what I see. What I see is a 65-year-old hot stuff who looks like if you're going to fracture anybody you should've said the tailbone 'cause I don't see a wrist and a shoulder being fractured. But that was real cute. Listen, you know, so allegedly she went to the doctors. I don't know whether she had operations. I don't know whether she's still in the hospital or whether she's back home."
Wendy went on to share that she believed Christie had planned her exit since agreeing to the gig, all in an effort to get her Sports Illustrated model daughter on the series.
"Here's my thought, OK? Dancing With the Stars called Christie Brinkley and said, 'Do you want to dance and with the stars?' And so she said, 'Yes.' So after she got off the phone, that's when she plotted her schedule," Wendy claimed. "... In my opinion, I think what Christie did was she signed up for Dancing With the Stars knowing that she'd put her daughter Sailor in there."
"Now you know Sailor is beautiful... Here's the deal, Sailor is a Sports Illustrated model, but that's not as big as being, like, a Kendall Jenner. You know who came out of nowhere. She's a supermodel of the world," she continued. "And in order for girls to get this leg up, it takes more than beauty. You know, you have to have cache. And that Dancing With the Stars has got a lot of eyeballs watching. And Christie doesn't really need that. You know who she is from the beginning to the end. She doesn't have to dance with the stars, you know, for you to know who she is."
"So my thought is that she said, 'Look Sailor, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to go to a few of these practices. I'm going to go on the Good Morning America and line it with everybody else, get all the press and stuff, you know? I'm going to walk around looking hot and sexy. And then I'm gonna play like I broke something,'" Wendy added. "And she did break something. Allegedly. Although Christie, I must tell you, there wasn't a believing person in my entire meeting this morning. When I presented my case, everyone was like, 'Uh huh. Mmmhmm.'"
While Wendy said she didn't "even know that people will care about" Christie's daughter on the show, she thought it was more important that the mom of three wouldn't have to compete herself.
"You can look like a teenager on the outside, but it's all 65 on the inside," Wendy said. "... She'll go every week to support Sailor, looking sexy. They'll swing the cameras her way, so she'll get her camera time. Sailor will be dancing. It's a win-win for the family."
Following Wendy's claims, Christie said that she was "totally shocked" at the host's allegation. "I have been there for Wendy Williams. That is so weird," Christie told People. "I have to give her a call... I'm really stunned."
Wendy, however, stood by her claim on Tuesday's episode of her show, though she did apologize for any hurt feelings.
"I'm sorry, girl. You know I love you, Christie. I see you with your cast," Wendy said. "I'm not gonna double down on what I said, but what I will do is apologize if I hurt your feelings. But my opinion still stands."
"Christie, hopefully you and I can still be cool, but I'm just saying," she added.
When ET's Keltie Knight caught up with with Christie, Sailor and their pro partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, following Sailor's performance, Christie lamented her need to step away while praising her daughter.
"The second I fell, I grabbed my wrist and it felt like there were sharp things inside of it. I knew instantly that I broke it and I knew it was going to be over," Christie said. "I knew that I was going to disappoint people, and I don't like to disappoint anybody. I was hoping to inspire women my age, and I hope they don't get the wrong message from this."
"I wanted to make my kids proud, I wanted to make my friends and fans proud, but I felt like I let everybody down," Christie said, as Sailor wrapped her arm around her mom's shoulder in support.
Despite her disappointment, Christie said she didn't "even feel" her injury after watching Sailor's triumphant, fourth-place landing performance.
"I'm so excited by what just took place," Christie said, before Sailor revealed that she worked hard to pull off the performance for her mom.
"Every moment that I felt like giving up or I felt like I couldn't do it, and it was hours and hours of rehearsal in these past couple days," Sailor said. "And I'd just call my mom… and she'd be sitting there in bed with her cast on, and I'm like, 'If she can do that, I can do this.'"
DWTS airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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