Niki Taylor Released From Hospital

ByABC News
June 27, 2001, 9:22 AM

A T L A N T A, June 21 -- Model Niki Taylor left a hospital for a privaterehabilitation center Tuesday, eight weeks after an Atlanta carcrash left her with severe liver damage.

Taylor, 26, was riding in a car that crashed into a telephonepole on April 30 after the driver lost control.

The name of the Atlanta rehabilitation center wasn't released.Taylor was upgraded from critical to good condition Thursday atGrady Memorial Hospital.

She was in the passenger seat of a friend's 1993 Nissan Maximawhen the driver ran off the road and struck a utility pole. Taylorwas wearing a seat belt and appeared uninjured, but collapsed aftergetting out of the car, said publicist Lou Taylor, who is notrelated to the model.

Driver Chad Renegar, 27, told police he looked down to answerhis cell phone and ran off the road. Renegar and passenger JohnLack, 30, were treated and released after the accident.

Taylor is the mother of twin 6-year-old boys, Jake and Hunter,with her ex-husband, Matt Martinez.

She made the cover of Seventeen magazine when she was barely 14.At 17, she was the youngest spokeswoman ever signed by Cover Girlcosmetics and since has appeared on more than 200 magazine covers.