Abandoned by his parents at the age of 3, discovered as a model at the age of 13, appeared on the cover of the German Vogue at the age of 16, got an industry-breaking $6 million luxury brand contract in the 80s, chose to get married at the peak of his career at the age of 24, and has since faded out of the fashion circle and returned to the family.
However, married for more than 30 years, on the second day of her husband's death, she was deeply betrayed, bankrupt, heartbroken, and depressed, she could only rely on borrowing money to start her life again, and now she has returned to the fashion industry at the age of 58, and finally ushered in another peak of her career again...
She is legendary Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova.
Recently, Paulina Porizkova appeared on the cover of the February and March issue of the Scandinavian edition of Vogue.
On the cover, Porizkova is dressed in a pink tulle lace slip dress that "doesn't seem to fit her age" and black sheer gloves, lounging on the sofa, letting her naturally gray hair casually cover her unadorned cheeks. In her, we see a kind of beauty and sensuality that is not limited by age.
Decades after the peak of her career, the 58-year-old feels "smarter, funnier, more patient" and more outspoken about telling us that it's time to say "f*ck that" to those who think women should age gracefully.
It is such a woman who will have age anxiety, will be afraid of aging, and is frankly cute, after decades of precipitation, there are some honest and insightful wisdom about the beauty of aging and life experience, which is worth reading.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Porizkova experienced helplessness and abandonment as a child. Her parents, anti-Soviet dissidents, fled the Soviet occupation and moved to Sweden, leaving Porizkova, then only 3 years old, alone with her grandmother.
Three years later, when her mother returned to pick up her daughter with her second child, she was unfortunately detained by the Czechoslovak government, and the matter escalated to international relations, which was widely reported by the local Swedish media, but fortunately with the help of the Swedish Prime Minister at the time, the family was finally reunited.
When Porizkova was 8 years old, she finally moved to Sweden with her mother and brother, but by then her father had already met the woman who would become his second wife. Shortly after the reunion, the parents divorced, leaving their mother to care for Porizkova and her brother alone.
This traumatizing childhood memory cost Porizkova years of psychotherapy before she finally began to accept her parents' decision at the time.
With her mother not taking care of her children very carefully, Porizkova was forced to start working early to earn money to support her family. At the age of 13, Porizkova was discovered to become a model, and at the age of 15, she came to Paris on the recommendation of a friend to enter her modeling career, and experiencing sexual harassment at work was common for her at the time... At the age of 19, she became the first CEIBS woman to appear on the cover of a special issue of Sports Illustrated, a momentous moment in her career, and the years that followed marked her with some of the most brilliant career achievements.
With her tall figure and outstanding looks, Porizkova quickly became the top model in Paris at the time, not only appeared on the VOGUE cover of 21 different national editions, but also during that period, Porizkova was often named one of the most beautiful women in the world.
VOGUE Deutsch May 1981
VOGUE US May 1986
VOGUE Deutsch August 1987
VOGUE Paris October 1988
VOGUE Australia March 1989
VOGUE US December 1989
Not only that, Porizkova also won many luxury brand advertisements at the time, including her endorsement contract with Estée Lauder in 1988 with an annual salary of $6 million, becoming the highest-paid model in history at the time.
She has also appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including the 1996 film Female Perversions with Tilda Swinton, and was one of the judges for the 10-12 seasons of America's Next Top Model.
Paulina Porizkova in Black Heart
(left) and Tilda Swinton
In love, Porizkova became the wife of Ric Ocasek, lead singer and founder of the American rock band The Cars, who was 21 years older at the time.
Perhaps the lack of father's love in her early years influenced her choice of husband. "Obviously, I'm after the image of a father. But I was like, 'Someone loves me, this is great!'" ’”
A few years later, they married and had two children, and Porizkova slowly shifted her focus to family life, even leaving all her money to her husband.
Unexpectedly, however, the marriage that lasted for more than 30 years came to a less happy end in 2018, "as our two sons grew up, our marriage began to break down," Porizkova wrote in her memoir "No Filter: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful," published last year.
When Porizkova turned 50, Porizkova realized that her husband seemed to have completely lost interest in her, and this feeling was accompanied by the absence of social identity after years away from her career, and she felt like an invisible person.
Finally, in 2018, the couple decided to break up peacefully after years of living together, and in the following months, because some of the details of the divorce agreement led to the process not being completed, they always lived together, with their own bedrooms, "so we still lived together and had dinner together in the evening." Nothing has actually changed. ”
Until one day in September 2019, the unimaginable happened. On an ordinary morning, when Porizkova brought coffee to Ocasek, she found that Ocasek had died of heart failure in the middle of the night. He was 75 years old.
But even more shockingly, just a day later, while Porizkova was still immersed in the sadness of her husband's death, she accidentally learned that Ocasek had suddenly changed her will a few weeks earlier and claimed that Porizkova had abandoned him, so she left almost no penny to Porizkova when dividing the estate, and also donated most of her inheritance to charity.
This is undoubtedly a huge blow to Porizkova. "Being abandoned was the thing I feared most in my life," Porizkova said of this harrowing memory. I have been staying home to help him and take care of him. It was a heavy blow to me. ”
Porizkova never expected that after a long married life, it would only end up with heartbreak and anger as an emotional price.
"I suddenly became a divorced woman with no career, no way to make money, and completely ignored by the masses, but I don't think that's much more because I'm actually much cooler now than I was 20 years ago." I'm smarter, more patient, more curious, more generous, and everything is better with me. Even though I have wrinkles, it doesn't make me ugly, I just don't feel unfair. ”
In 2020, 55-year-old Porizkova decided to get out of depression and anxiety and start again, resuming fitness and physical exercise, "now I have to learn to fly on my own", just like when I was 15 years old, I broke into the Parisian fashion scene alone.
Porizkova on Fendi's Fall/Winter 21/22 runway
It turns out that when a woman decides to reinvent herself and rebuild her career, it's never too late.
So when Porizkova was 56 years old, we saw her on the cover of the Czech Vogue with a very bold look.
VOGUE
Czechoslovakia May 2021
On social media, she also does not hesitate to share real photos of her face and body aging, and talks heartily about her inner world, about age, betrayal and depression, as well as the mission of maturity, self-acceptance and finding life.
However, these real plain photos and bikini photos do not seem to be understood by such a part of the population, in their cognition, middle-aged and elderly women cannot and should not be sexy.
Last April, a male user commented on Porizkova's photos: "It must be painful for you to post bikini pictures at your age. Others expressed dissatisfaction with the way her neck looked in the photo.
Instead of ignoring the comment or fighting back angrily, Porizkova tweeted the next day that she thanked the troll's "feeling her pain," a response that was indeed somewhat unexpected and even encouraged some fans to leave their authentic photos under the hashtag #OldUgly#.
"My voice was never heard when my appearance was most noticed," but Porizkova, 58, has inspired a group of women who, like her, have experienced gloomy moments, "I feel like I represent women in their 50s who look just like their real age." ”
Fans who follow Porizkova have also expressed their sincere gratitude for her actions, "Thank you, thank you for making us look good, thank you for showing women of our age: we are not invisible, we are not old and ugly, we are still important, we are still great." ”
In recent years, Porizkova is not the only woman who has revived her career in middle age and even old age.
42-year-old Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, after 13 years of marriage and 7 years of retirement divorce from American football superstar Tom Brady, not only resumed her modeling career, with constant job offers, but also low-key buying luxury houses, dating the opposite sex, and living a dashing life. After her ex-husband Tom Brady announced his retirement again, he still generously wished him all the best in the future.
41-year-old Song Huiqiao, after also experiencing divorce and personal career troughs, not only completed the transformation from sweet sister to "drag sister" with a "dark glory" last year, but also made her acting skills and reputation recognized again. Next month, "Dark Glory" starring her will usher in the start of its second season.
50-year-old Zheng Xiuwen, a series of out-of-circle styling at the end of last year brought her back to the public, and just a few days ago she was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards again for the movie "Flowing Water and Flowers".
and 60-year-old Michelle Yeoh, who has once again become popular around the world with "Instantaneous Universe" and has won numerous awards; 75-year-old "senior supermodel" Maye Musk, after most of her life, now has her best time...
What we see in them is that whether it is 40+, 50+, or 60+, 70+, they will always shine with confidence and independence, courage to create and work hard, no matter when they start, just unswervingly move forward.
Finally, if you're in a state of anxiety, depression, depression, and depression, as Porizkova once experienced, listen to her advice in an interview:
"Happiness is the sunshine between the clouds, it's worth you to stay and wait, but you can't make it happen. If it's cloudy, it's cloudy, and if you only expect sunshine, then you'll be disappointed. ”
And more importantly, if you make money, make sure you put it away and keep it in your own bank account and don't give it to someone else.
WRITTEN BY: KEKE
Editor: Hezi
Design: Lele