How Christie Brinkley Scares Her Kids into Using Sunblock: 'I Show Them My Thigh and I Say, ‘Look at These Spots!''

The supermodel — who had skin cancer on her face — explains how she gets her kids to use sunscreen

Christie Brinkley is serious about sunscreen.

The supermodel — who had surgery for skin cancer earlier this year — says that she's not above using scare tactics to get her children to wear sunscreen.

“Take it from me, because I didn’t do enough sunblock, I did get skin cancer, and I also have to deal with hyperpigmented and hypopigmented spots,” Christie — who turned 70 in February — told Page Six.

“I lift my skirt, I show them my thigh and I say, ‘Look at these spots! You don’t want that!'”

Brinkley shares daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 38, with ex-husband Billy Joel, and daughter Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 25,  and son Jack Paris Brinkley-Cook, 29, with ex-husband Peter Cook.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

This past March, Brinkley disclosed that she’d had basal cell carcinoma removed from her face, sharing photos of her post-surgery bandages on Instagram.

Brinkley’s diagnosis came as a shock, she’s told Today hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, as she’d accompanied one of her daughters to the dermatologist when she decided to speak up and ask the doctor to look at a spot on her face.

Related: Woman Survives Melanoma After Having 100 Abnormal Moles Removed

While he was using his magnifying glass to examine a “a couple of things that she was worried about, I thought, 'You know, there is that little spot right on the side of my head right here. ... Should I say anything? It's not my appointment.' "

“As he was putting away his little thing, I said, 'Before you put that away, do you think you could just look at this?'" Brinkley said. "He looked and he goes, 'We've got to do a biopsy immediately.' "

He continued: " 'This is something.' Then the biopsy came back: cancer."

Related: Andy Roddick Had a Cancerous Tumor Removed from His Lip: 'Put Sunscreen on Your Kids'

The face is one of the most common spots for skin cancer to develop, Verywell Health says, adding that it's " often confused for moles or solar lentigo (liver spots), which is why is important to get them checked out if a new spot appears or an old one changes."

Now Brinkley is continuing to speak up about the importance of staying protected from the sun, name-checking Supergoop and La Roche-Posay as her favorite sunscreen brands.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“I can’t say it enough: Sunblock and a hat will do more for you [than anything else],” she told Page Six.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, the American Academy of Dermatology Association says, with nearly 10,000 people getting diagnosed with it every day.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.