Kristen Erin "Krissy" Taylor (May 15, 1978 – July 2, 1995) was an American model.

Early life and career

Taylor was born in Miami and lived in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

with her parents and two older sisters. Taylor's foray into the modeling world was largely due to being supermodel Niki Taylor's younger sister. At age 11, Taylor began going to shoots with Niki, and photographers began to include her in photos. Her first shoot with sister Niki appeared in '' Seventeen''. She soon signed with her sister's modeling agency in New York, IMG. At age 13, after Taylor accompanied her sister Niki to castings for the Fall Shows in Milan, the designers impulsively fitted Taylor, and she walked the runways alongside

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

Christy Turlington Christy Nicole Turlington Burns ( Turlington; born January 2, 1969) is an American fashion model. She initially attracted fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a supermodel. She represented Calvin Klein's Eternity campaign in 1989 and aga ...

, and

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer, Lady Vaughn (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. Born in Rheinberg, Germany, she initially asp ...

. Thereafter, Taylor began getting calls to work solo. Taylor had amassed an impressive résumé of credits, including ''

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'', Italian '' Glamour'', '' YM'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

''. She had 13 covers to her credit, and appeared on ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...

'' and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. She also did the 1994 Spring Collections in New York, landing eight shows, including

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...

. Her last photo shoot was with sister Niki Taylor for the July/August 1995 cover of '' Ocean Drive'' magazine.

Death

On July 2, 1995, Niki Taylor found Krissy lying unconscious on the floor of their family's home in Florida. After attempts to revive Taylor by her family and authorities failed, she was rushed to Memorial Hospital West and pronounced dead at 5:39 a.m. She was 17 years old. Taylor was known to have had allergies that congested her upper

respiratory system The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies grea ...

and she used Primatene, an over-the-counter

epinephrine Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands a ...

inhaler, to combat shortness of breath. While epinephrine can cause

cardiac arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beat ...

, it was impossible to prove she had taken any just prior to her death. The official cause of death was an acute asthma attack complicated by sudden

. However, she had no prior history of asthma, and no symptoms of a heart condition. Uncertain of the medical examiner's diagnosis, the Taylor family hired independent experts to study tissue samples of Taylor's heart muscle. Those experts concluded that the more likely cause of her death was a rare cardiac disease called

arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an inherited heart disease. ACM is caused by genetic defects of parts of the cardiac muscle known as desmosomes, areas on the surface of muscle cells which link them together. The desmosomes are composed ...

(ARVD). Taylor's mother, Barbara, is now involved with the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research and Education (CARE) Foundation.

References

External links

Official Krissy Taylor memorial site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Krissy 1978 births 1995 deaths Female models from Florida People from Pembroke Pines, Florida Deaths from asthma 20th-century American women 20th-century American people