Christa Worthington

From early on, Christa was determined to make her mark in the world. She was ambitious, creative and highly intelligent. She came by in honestly. Her mother, Gloria, was a talented painter and her father, Christopher ("Toppy"), was a former assistant attorney general of Massachusetts and a prosecutor.  

During her childhood, Christa lived with her family in Hingham, but every summer, they would flee to Truro, where they had a cottage. Christa had a special place in her heart for the town. But it would be a while before she would spend any significant length of time there. She had places to go and things to do.

After high school, she attended Vassar College, where she studied English. She graduated with honors in 1977 and immediately embarked on a career as an editor for Cosmopolitan in Manhattan before landing a job at Woman's Wear Daily (WWD). Christa was later "sent to Paris at the age of 26 as a fashion reporter for sister publication W magazine," where her social life was thrown into high gear, Vanessa Grigoriadis reported in a Cosmopolitan article. According to the report, Christa was "invited to many big events, from polo matches to fashion shows to formal balls thrown by European royalty and she immersed herself in her work." Soon she earned a position as acting bureau chief at W during the 1980s but she didn't stay there long. 

Christa Worthington in New York

Christa moved to London, where she began to work as a freelance journalist for The Independent of London. She eventually moved back to Manhattan and wrote celebrity profiles and fashion articles for such publications as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, writing celebrity profiles and fashion articles. Christa's career had soared to new heights, but she was not content in her personal life.

Christa longed to have children, but she was nearing her late 30s and was unmarried. She decided not to wait for "Mr. Right" and instead tried to get pregnant by artificial insemination. It didn't turn out to be as easy as she thought. In fact, she learned from doctors that she was infertile, which was a devastating blow to her.

At around the same time, Christa learned that her mother was dying of cancer. She immediately took leave from her job and moved to Hingham to take care of her. Not long after she moved, she heard some more disturbing news.

Christa Worthington, younger

Christa discovered that her father was having an affair with a woman almost half a century his junior. Cosmopolitan reporter Vanessa Grigoriadis quoted a friend of Christa's who said, "Even though things between her parents had long ago become something like a separation where the couple still lives together, Christa saw her dad's affair as a betrayal." The article further stated that she decided to take some distance from the situation by moving to her deceased grandmother's home in Truro. It was a choice that would have life-altering consequences.