Model's condition still critical a week after crash

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A week after an early-morning car crash, model Niki Taylor remained in critical condition at an Atlanta hospital Sunday.

Taylor, 26, suffered serious liver and abdominal injuries in a one-car accident April 29. On Thursday, she underwent five hours of surgery at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital.

The driver, James Renegar, told police he lost control of his car near downtown Atlanta. Police ticketed him but said they did not suspect drugs or alcohol contributed to the accident.

Renegar, 27, blamed a cell phone for distracting him, causing him to slam his car into a telephone pole. Taylor was in the passenger seat and a third person, John Lack, was in the back. Neither Lack nor Renegar was seriously injured.

Taylor's modeling career began at age 14 when she appeared on the cover of Seventeen magazine. She became a top runway model, landed multimillion-dollar contracts with Cover Girl cosmetics and Liz Claiborne fashions, and appeared on the covers of scores of magazines, including the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

In 1995 at her Florida home, she found her 19-year-old sister, fellow model Krissi, unconscious from an asthma attack aggravated by a heart condition. Krissi died at the hospital. Since then, Niki Taylor has raised money for asthma research.

At age 19, she married arena football player Matt Martinez. They had twin sons, born in 1995, but divorced after three years of marriage.

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