Paulina Porizkova, 56, poses nude and was 'barely retouched' on magazine cover: 'I am very proud'
Paulina Porizkova may be one of the world’s most celebrated supermodels, but even she knows what it’s like to feel invisible as an older woman.
Speaking to Los Angeles Magazine, the 56-year-old talked about a time when she and her former spouse, the late Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, were out in Las Vegas.
“We were going out for the night, and I got really done up: tight black dress, plunging neckline, red lips, really high heels,” she explained. “I was walking through the casino, and I thought I looked really hot, like I was sauntering down a runway. But I wasn’t getting noticed. In the past, there’d always been this tiny bit of friction when I walked through a crowd — this infinitesimal moment of awareness. But that night in Vegas, for the first time, there was none of that; it was like nobody even saw me.”
Eventually, one guy came up to the Vogue cover girl.
“I thought, ‘OK, this is it,’” Porizkova recalled. “He asked me if I knew where the restrooms were.”
Of the experience, she said, “It was my first brush with invisibility.”
While the moment clearly stuck with Porizkova, it only made her more determined to be seen as an older woman. She has turned her Instagram into an honest account of life, complete with makeup-free selfies and honest reflections on her past relationships, such as her complicated marriage to Ocasek (who cut Porizkova out of his will after more than 30 years together) and her recently-ended romance with writer Aaron Sorkin.
Porizkova applauded the Los Angeles Magazine story on her Instagram, which also featured a nude photograph of herself on the cover. She shared a photo of the cover, along with the caption, “I am very proud to be the cover and a part of this LA Magazine issue on ageism. We are doing much better in celebrating beauty that comes in many different sizes and colors, but age is still something to be conquered.”
She also dared those who take issue with an “??older woman celebrating her body” to hit the “unfollow button.”
Photographer Jill Greenberg also shared images from the photo spread, noting that "this image is barely retouched."
Porizkova also posed "sitting legs open" without any clothes on.
In July, Porizkova called out the “anti aging” industry in an Instagram post of herself in a bikini.
"Combat age. Reverse aging. Rejuvenate. Anti age. None of this is possible,” she wrote. “Yet, if you do an internet search on aging, this is what you’ll get. Pills, potions and workouts to fight the aging process. You know what the only way to stop aging? Dying.”