Paulina Porizkova Expresses Feelings on Ageism in the Modeling Industry: 'You Don't Get to Dismiss Me'

Paulina Porizkova is sharing her experiences as one of the most famous models in the world, as well as thoughts on where the fashion industry still needs work.

While visiting PEOPLE (the TV Show!) on Wednesday, Porizkova, 56, tells senior correspondent Jeremy Parsons that she felt she was a "reluctant model," adding, "I always felt like being a model was literally being an apple in a still life."

"You just kind of get polished, placed, be quiet, look pretty… it was a little frustrating to me," she says.

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Porizkova, who got her start in the modeling industry at age 13 in the late '70s, acknowledges that the business has "gotten a lot better now" since her heyday.

"I love the movement of body inclusivity and color inclusivity and celebrating different beauty as beautiful," she says. "I'm so behind that!"

But when asked by Parsons about areas in the business that still need to change, she doesn't hesitate.

RELATED VIDEO: Paulina Porizkova Celebrates Aging in New Laura Geller Beauty "Let's Get Old Together" Campaign

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"Ageism, babe," she replies, going on to show the host her gray roots in the studio.

"I felt ashamed to be aging, and then on the other hand you go, 'But, I'm smarter, I'm better, I'm funnier, I'm more patient!' " she continues. "Overall as a person, I'm the best I've ever been. So I'm not ready to be dismissed."

"You don't get to dismiss me because I have some wrinkles and sags and gray hair now, when I'm kind of fabulous, the most fabulous I've ever been," she adds. "In fact, I'm going to just put it out there and go, you know what, this is me at my best. Deal with it!"

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Porizkova also discusses how she pushes herself to her physical limits in the new CBS celebrity adventure show Beyond The Edge, which airs on Wednesday night.

In September, Porizkova remembered her late former husband, Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, two years following his death at 75.

At the time, she shared a throwback snapshot on Instagram smiling with Ocasek on a vacation, writing in the caption about missing her late husband.

"It's already been two years. It's only been two years," she wrote. "This photo is from our last vacation. Cafe Du Monde. He brought me here for many years to celebrate the day we met, May 4th 1984. We'd spend a most romantic and wonderful weekend in New Orleans. He was not a big drinker, but here, we once tried Hurricanes, the portable on the street ones, and got so inebriated we couldn't find our way back to our romantic little Inn."

"So many memories," continued the supermodel. "And in the 35 years of knowing each other, an overwhelming amount of them were wonderful. This is where I will park. With the twenty five years of amazing memories. My love, you know you're missed every day." She added a broken heart emoji and the hashtags "#loveneverdies #grief #memories #missyou."

Ocasek died suddenly of natural causes on Sept. 15, 2019, at his New York City home.