5 Celebrities Who Had (or Are at Risk of) the Lung Disease COPD

Christy Turlington

In 1997, after her father died of lung cancer, supermodel Christy Turlington lent her million-dollar looks to a series of antismoking public service announcements. Turlington herself had quit smoking in 1994, after maintaining a pack-a-day habit for nearly a decade.

She didn’t quit soon enough. Three years later, at the age of 31, the cover girl revealed that she had early-stage emphysema. Turlington’s story is a vivid reminder that COPD can start to develop in one’s 20s, and even earlier, although most people aren't diagnosed until their 40s, 50s, or 60s.

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