Paulina Porizkova on Ric Ocasek split: 'It seemed like only one of us wanted to be married, and that was me'

Paulina Porizkova has opened up her feelings of “incredible hurt and betrayal” about discovering shortly after estranged husband Ric Ocasek’s death last September that the Cars rocker had recently cut her out of his will and claimed that she’d “abandoned” him. In her full interview with CBS Sunday Morning about her relationship with Ocasek, the 54-year-old supermodel also revealed what prompted the couple to break up after almost 30 years of marriage.

In 2018, the pair — who met when a then-19-year-old Porizkova starred in the 1984 music video for “Drive” opposite the 40-year-old Ocasek — announced that they’d separated the year before. The longtime couple had married in 1989 and have two sons in their 20s.

Paulina Porizkova says she and husband Ric Ocasek (pictured with her in 2016) split because "it seemed like only one of us wanted to be married." (Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)
Paulina Porizkova says she and husband Ric Ocasek (pictured with her in 2016) split because "it seemed like only one of us wanted to be married." (Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)

When asked if their 21-year age difference played a role in their split, Porizkova speculated that her ex may have lost interest in the marriage because he “was tired.”

"Suddenly in our marriage it seemed like only one of us wanted to be married, and that was me!” she admitted. “I just know that it's really hard to be married to somebody if you're the only one putting in all the work. And maybe it was age; maybe he just was tired. Maybe I was too — maybe I took too much energy to love. I don't know. It's possible."

But despite the separation, they continued to live together up until Ocasek’s death, at age 75, on Sept. 15; Porizkova was the one to find him in their Manhattan townhouse. Ocasek’s cause of death was later listed as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

“He was still the man that I loved and that I had grown up with,” she told CBS Sunday Morning of their bond. “And I couldn't really imagine life without him."

She added that she “couldn't imagine not" remaining friends with Ocasek. "I didn't know how life would work that way."

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