Paulina Porizkova, 56, wants to normalize 'softness that comes with age': 'Another kind of beautiful'
Paulina Porizkova, 56, posed "full-frontal nude" — and un-retouched — on the cover of Vogue, but praise for the supermodel is often diluted with an irritating modifier: "Still."
"Can we talk about 'still?'” the supermodel wrote in a Thursday Instagram post, sharing a photo from Vogue CS, the cover of which she appeared in April wearing a sheer black bodysuit. "'You are STILL beautiful,' 'You STILL look great,' 'I would STILL date you' are meant as compliments. How many times have you been told you’re STILL smart as a compliment?"
Porizkova added, "Sure, being pretty is considered fleeting, unlike smart. But why is it considered fleeting when it’s merely 'different?' Because of time, change in life is unavoidable, and as much good as it’s bad. So why is it so feared?"
"We appreciate the various ages of objects," she pointed out. "Antiques and vintage are as sought after — and often even more valuable than the brand new. Why can’t we look at the wrinkles and the softness that comes with age as another kind of beautiful? Instead of being 'still beautiful' because we remain the same, we could be 'beautiful' because we change."
Although Porizkova's modeling career is "still" robust, her beauty views change with each passing year. She often posts selfies without makeup or which reveal her gray roots and even bikini shots, always with humbleness. Porizkova recently posted a video of herself sitting in a makeup chair at age 18, admitting she was "a little brat" at the beginning of her career and a candid photo of herself wearing glasses and a sweatsuit. "Aaaand, just in case you think I lounge around my house all glamorous-like…this is me after one coffee and with my computer poised to write," she wrote. "This is what I will look like for the rest of the day. Sexy, right?" signing off with #BetweenJLoandBettyWhite.
"Jennifer Lopez may only be just a few years younger than me, but you're talking about a woman who is 51 and looks 30, and is incredible gorgeous and sexy and absolutely viable as a woman — everyone can agree that she's hot," Porizkova explained her favorite hashtag to Yahoo Life last month. "And then Betty White is just adorable and charming and so funny and we just love her because she's such a firecracker at her age. And in between the two of them, there's nobody. So you either have the middle-aged woman that looks incredible and doesn't look her age, or the truly older woman that absolutely looks her age, but doesn't act her age. There's no celebration of actual age."
Mid-life is clearly optimal for Porizkova and why she insists on accountability throughout menopause, romance, (the model is dating screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) and mental health, as she continues processing the 2019 death of husband and former Cars singer Ric Ocasek. "Whatever confidence and wisdom that you acquire with age," she recently told Yahoo Life of her sexuality, "it's kind of paying off in your 50s."
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