GMA: Lauren Hutton Describes Motorcycle Crash

March 1 -- With 25 Vogue covers to her name, Lauren Hutton is the original supermodel.

But the actress and model is not just a beautiful face. Hutton is also a wild risk taker who has done everything from wrestling alligators to riding motorcycles, a hobby she picked up in the late 1960s for a movie role.

Since then, Hutton has set out regularly on her motorcycle, riding alongside her own mod squad, Jeremy Irons and Dennis Hopper. Last October, she was heading with a group through the rocky desert near Las Vegas, when she got separated from her riding buddies, who were among a group participating in a 100-mile ride to celebrate the future opening of the Hermitage-Guggenheim museum.

'Should Have Quit' "See, I should have quit then," Hutton told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview, her first since the crash. "Because there was no way to thread my motorcycle through the group all the way back up to the front. It was just too late. And once you take off, you can't — I couldn't pass 90 people."

So she remained behind.

"And then we pulled to the side of the road after about two and a half hours of riding, and that's when, thank God, Jeremy [Irons] saw me, and he saw that I had tears coming out of my eyes from the wind hitting me, because my helmet didn't have a visor."

Irons called her over, and insisted she wear another helmet.

"And I said, 'Oh, no, I'm fine,' and he said 'Come on.' And he pulled out a huge full-visor helmet, which saved my life three minutes later," Hutton said.

That wasn't the only help from a friend, that day. Before they left for the trip, Hopper went all the way back to his room for his extra leather jacket, because Hutton had brought the wrong one.

She is not certain how fast she was going at the time of the crash.

"I've heard between 110 and 90, which is odd, because I don't go that fast. I really don't. I don't go that fast. I don't want to die," she said.

But she nearly did. Hutton skidded on a curve and her tires lost their grip. She then skidded more than 100 feet and went airborne. Irons saw the accident happen.