Paulina Porizkova Gets Candid About Aging: ‘I Am the Best That I’ve Ever Been’ (Exclusive)
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The supermodel explains how she finds “freedom” in self-acceptance in her post-menopausal years
Paulina Porizkova would define 2023 as no less than a “year of change.”
During this time, the 58-year-old supermodel and writer has learned to accept herself and let go of the past. The desire to put her unfiltered self “out there” encompassed part of that journey, whether it was sharing photos of herself makeup-free or in a bikini.
“As soon as you start filtering yourself or auto-tuning your photos and stuff, well then, it’s not really all that authentic anymore,” Porizkova told PEOPLE. “I feel a responsibility to put myself out there as I am.”
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Her openness to share the highs and lows of aging, grief and her changing body didn’t always come easy. Following the death of her late ex-husband Ric Ocasek (when, she joked, she was known as “that crying lady of Instagram”), she found a community of women bound together by loss. Amidst the COVID pandemic, Porizkova could empathize with their grief, especially after facing enormous upheaval with her own finances and home.
“We’ve suffered these enormous losses and our lives have been blown up,” Porizkova recalled. “I don’t even know who I am and I’m middle-aged and I feel like I’m getting lost. You don’t just lose the person that you love – you lose a sense of yourself.”
Her rediscovery stemmed from realizing her needs were not “secondary” to the needs of others, regardless of her role as a wife and mother. By spending more time learning how to accept herself, she was no longer looking for “the same kind of things” in a significant other as she had before. That led Porizkova to meet her current boyfriend, television writer and producer Jeff Greenstein, just three days into the new year.
Related: Celebrities Who've Talked About Menopause
Self-acceptance in aging has delivered far more benefits than just a significant other for the Swedish model, who believes freedom can be found after menopause.
“One of the incredible things about aging is that you care less and less about what other people think,” Porizkova admitted. “You’re like, ‘You know what? I’ve done my bit. I’ve been serving everybody else for 50 years – now, it’s my turn.’”
While the former Sports Illustrated cover model still is looking for “ultimate freedom” from societal expectations, she appreciates the “enormous” amount of wisdom she’s gained.
“I know without a doubt that I am the best that I’ve ever been,” Porizkova said. “Why do I need improvement? I’m in my prime right now. I’m sorry that you think my wrinkles dismiss me from being in my prime, but as a person, as a fully formed woman at the height of her power, this is it.”
Related: 20 Celebrities On the Joys of Getting Older
Navigating two different identities has proved to be a new challenge for the writer. At book events, she resonates more with the women who know her “Instagram me” as opposed to those who come because of her modeling days with Estée Lauder. Fighting the urge to “not chase youth” or “pretend that she is younger” is a kind of acceptance she admits to still be “working on.”
The same goes for managing changes in the body post-menopause, including weight gain. After exercising more ("great for my emotional state ... [but] it made me be more hungry") she found her happy medium with intermittent fasting, where, she says, “it’s all about balance.”
“I don’t eat very much, but when I eat, I eat the stuff I want to eat,” Porizkova explained of her routine, which she's done the past four years. “Sometimes they’re very healthy, and sometimes they aren’t, because they make me happy.”
In comparison, she felt she was never too “comfortable” during her modeling career because of its objectification. However, she still looks back with a sense of gratitude.
“I’ve had amazing times, I’ve worked with amazing people, but that’s not when I was happiest – not even by far,” Porizkova reflects. “For me, the past is the past that has formed me. And thank you for that, because I like where I am now and I am looking ahead, because the only thing I can change is the future, not the past.”
If there’s anything she’s learned about herself, especially after her time as a contestant on the survival TV show, “Beyond the Edge,” it’s that she is “not a giver-upper.” This rings true in her personal and public journey around aging and how she continues to move forward with positivity.
“I’m working on this as hard as I can,” Porizkova said. “This self-acceptance thing, the looking at yourself in the mirror and going, ‘Okay, well, looking older than I did yesterday, but you know what? When I’m 70, I’ll think back at this time as like, ‘Damn, I was pretty hot. What was I complaining about?’”
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