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Niki Taylor Makes Great Recovery From Automobile Accident

By Author Andrew Speaker, Esq.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ... Model Niki Taylor's horrific 2001 accident only a detourBy BILL MONTGOMERYThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 03/12/07
By all accounts, supermodel Niki Taylor has rebuilt a fast-track life that almost ended in a shattering moment along Ponce de Leon Avenue in the early morning dark of April 29, 2001.
Critically injured when the Nissan Maxima driven by a friend hit a telephone pole near Glen Iris Drive, the Florida native suffered serious liver damage, endured nearly three months in hospitals and hours of surgery. The ordeal was not the first taste of trauma for the young woman born Nicole Taylor, who broke into modeling at 14 and whose smile beamed from magazines as the face of Cover Girl cosmetics.

Niki Taylor started a foundation to help women get a start in modeling and other businesses.
In 1995, her younger sister Krissy, also a model she called "my best friend," died at 17 of a rare heart ailment. A year later, Niki Taylor was divorced from Miami Arena football player Matt Martinez.
The mother of twin 12-year-old sons, Taylor, now 32, is still modeling. She has launched her own perfume, a citrus scented fragrance she named "begin ... by Niki Taylor." She has opened a women's clothing boutique in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tenn., and started a foundation to help women get a start in modeling and other businesses.
And she also has remarried, to a stock car race driver.
"Niki's always been a fighter," said her lawyer, Stephen Screnci of Boca Raton, Fla. "She's not one to sit back and complain. She took what life handed her, knew that it would take a lot of work for her to get back on her feet and did what she had to do."
Taylor, traveling on business with manager Louise "Lou" Taylor, who is not a relative, could not be reached for comment last week. Jamie Nehasil, with Tri Star Sports and Entertainment of Boca Raton, said Taylor moved to the Nashville area "not too long" after completing her hospitalization.
"Physically, Niki is doing well, but as for the car crash, she really doesn't talk much on it anymore. She would prefer to focus on the blessings and opportunities in her life right now," Nehasil said.
"She's been through a lot, and it's made her stronger," he added. "She's has a strong religious faith. And she's probably the sweetest celebrity I've ever worked with ? humble and easygoing."
On her Web site, nikitaylor.com, the model said she wants to continue her chosen work.
"I have to admit traveling and meeting people keep me inspired. Traveling is something I consider to be a true privilege in my occupation ... I just need to keep a special balance of work ... [and home]."
The boutique she owns with her manager ? "Abbie and Jesse's," named for the white Maltese dogs Niki Taylor and Lou Taylor own individually ? sells trendy women's clothes, "lots of jeans," belts, hats and dresses, Nehasil said.
He said Taylor appeared recently on fellow model Tyra Banks' television show to talk about her "begin Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Business." Explaining her reasons for establishing the foundation, Taylor said she wanted a "constructive way to give back to the women who have supported my career for so long."
Taylor and Banks both started modeling careers in their teens.
Nehasil said Taylor doesn't travel as frequently now so she can spend more time with sons, Jake and Hunter, and her new husband, Burney Lamar, 26, whom she married in December after a four-month courtship.
Lamar drives in the NASCAR Busch Series, sponsored byAnheuser Busch, in races considered a proving ground for drivers in the second division, comparable to Triple-A baseball.
Nehasil said Taylor and Lamar met at another fast track. "A friend of ours at the office turned her on to NASCAR," he said.
"What ever happened to ... " is a weekly feature

Full post as published by The Speaker Law Firm Personal Injury Blog on March 12, 2007 (boomark / email).