Supermodel Niki Taylor in Critical Condition

ATLANTA – Supermodel Niki Taylor, whose lithe good looks have landed her on countless magazine covers since she was barely in her teens, was in critical condition with internal injuries Tuesday after a one-car crash, her publicist said.

The 26-year-old Taylor was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed into a utility pole early Sunday after its driver lost control on a curvy road, said publicist Lou Taylor, who is not related to the model.

The driver and another passenger, both men, were treated and released, she said. She would not identify them except to say they were old friends of Taylor.

Taylor, who was wearing a seat belt, was not thrown from the car and initially appeared to be unhurt, her publicist said.

"Everyone felt she was OK, and then she had severe stomach pains," Lou Taylor said.

Police could not immediately give details on the crash.

Niki Taylor was in Atlanta to visit friends for the weekend and planned to return home to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday to begin acting lessons, her publicist said.

The model's parents, Barbara and Ken Taylor, and an older sister were with her at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Taylor is the mother of twin 6-year-old boys, Jake and Hunter.

She landed on the cover of Seventeen magazine when she was barely 14. She has appeared in ads for Cover Girl cosmetics and Liz Claiborne fashions and has been in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue.

In a 1995 Forbes magazine survey ranking the world's top models, Taylor ranked 6th with estimated 1994 earnings of $2.4 million.

Another sister, Krissy, also a promising model, died in July 1995 at age 17 of asthma. Niki Taylor found her sister unconscious at the family's home in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

She dealt with the devastating death of her sister by getting back to work quickly.

"I've been through a lot, but everything has been a learning experience," she said in an interview published in Cosmopolitan in 1998. "It's made me a much wiser, stronger person."