Christie Brinkley Shares Why Doing The Masked Singer 'Was Life-Changing for the Whole Family'

As a supermodel, Christie Brinkley has dealt with wearing uncomfortable clothes and shoes for long periods of time. But none of those experiences compared to the challenge of donning her Masked Singer Lemur costume.

"My tail, which looks like a fluffy little feathery thing, was actually more like having a telephone pole strapped to my body. It was very heavy," Brinkley, 68, tells PEOPLE. "And my shoes were inside my pants. So my shoes were not very comfortable. They were really quite excruciating in fact."

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The mom of daughters Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 23, and Alexa Ray Joel, 36, and son Jack Brinkley-Cook, 26, only lasted for one round on the Fox competition show before taking her Lemur mask off on Wednesday. She sang Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move," but actually planned on doing a different song first.

"I was doing 'Dream a Little Dream' and they turned the whole stage into a night sky full of stars. That was supposed to be my opening number, but they switched it out that morning," Brinkley reveals. "I was really surprised to suddenly be doing a different song but, that's pretty common in showbiz. You got to be ready for anything."

Michael Becker/FOX; Dia Dipasupil/Getty

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The actress had also prepared to perform "The Girl from Ipanema" in Portuguese had she moved forward.

Brinkley shares what her kids thought of her Masked Singer appearance, her reaction to the judges' guesses and why she opted for the "beast" of a Lemur costume.

What made you want to go on The Masked Singer?
CHRISTIE BRINKLEY: When they asked me if I wanted to do the show, I jumped at the chance because I just thought, why not? It looks like so much fun. It's not like The Voice. It's about having fun and they really make a big point about that. You're there to have a good time. I hope that while I've wasn't there that long, and while my short performance was plagued with issues, it still comes off as fun and a good time, because it was.

Why did you pick the Lemur mask?
The show gave me two costumes to choose from. The other costume was so fiercely glamorous and it was very body con. I thought to myself, "I'll be sucking in my stomach the whole time in that costume." And I could see a day that some designer could say, "Here's the outfit," and it could be similar to that. So, I'm going to go with the fuzzy little lemur because it looks comfortable, it looks fun and friendly, and I've never worn a lemur outfit before, so let's go. Lemur all the way. And that little cuddly lemur ended up being a beast.

Michael Becker/FOX

Were you disappointed to be the first one out?
Yeah, of course. I knew halfway down the runway when I couldn't see anything and I couldn't breathe that that was most likely going to be the scenario. From Day 1, when I put it on, I was like, "Okay, there's a couple of issues here." One, this tail felt like it could pull me over on one side or the other. I had a strap around my hips, my waist, my bra area, my collarbone and shoulder straps to hold that tail in place. Then when they put the head on, if I swayed it back and forth, my tail would swivel my head. Anytime the head would swivel out of position, I couldn't see. Ever since I fell during Dancing with the Stars, I was so worried about falling. It was a constant battle with this tail.

And you definitely didn't want to go down after having hip replacement surgery in 2020.
For sure. My right hip was the hip that I replaced and it's really good to go. It's back doing its thing. But my right shoulder has never really come back yet from my fall. That's what was impeding me because I was holding my mic in my left hand, but my right shoulder gets frozen. And it's very hard for me to reach up to try and adjust and reposition it.

RELATED VIDEO: Christie Brinkley Shares Why Doing The Masked Singer 'Was Life-Changing for the Whole Family'

Who knew you were appearing on the show prior to your reveal?
My kids knew that I was doing this and I'd say to them, "I'm just letting you know, I'll probably be voted off first because as you know, I'm not a professional singer." I just enjoy the opportunity to get the chance to sing. Jack came out to California. He was going to be helping me a little bit because I was between personal assistants and he ended up moving there. And my daughter Sailor had already been out there for a month and the two of them are still out there, they loved it so much. So it was life-changing for the whole family.

NYDJ

Your oldest daughter Alexa Ray is a singer. Did she give you any tips?
Oh yeah. She was very adamant about me starting with "Dream a Little Dream." She's like, "That's the one that accents your voice." And she also loved "The Girl from Ipanema." She thought that was really good because I was doing it in Portuguese, it might throw them off. She was not crazy about my version of Carole King. She's like, "I'm not sure, Mom. Maybe you should try it more syncopated and just don't try so hard."

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What did you think of the judges' guesses for you, which included Jennifer Aniston and Goldie Hawn?
It's fabulous. As soon as I heard the guesses, I thought, "All right. Even though I'm probably getting kicked off first, I've kind of just won right there." Being compared to those amazing women, that was it for me. I won. I've just been mentioned in the same sentences as Jennifer Aniston and Goldie Hawn who are really two of my favorite showbiz people.

What else do you have coming up?
I'm launching a brand-new line of zero sugar wine; zero sugar wine that tastes so great and smooth and delicious. I've got a pinot grigio, a merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a rosé — zero sugar and organic and vegan. That's my focus right now.

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Fox.