Paulina Porizkova opens up about beauty of ageing: ‘You don’t get to dismiss me’

‘Overall as a person, I’m the best I’ve ever been’

(Getty Images for Bloomberg)

Paulina Porizkova has spoken candidly about ageing and how it has made her the “most fabulous” person she’s ever been.

The 56-year-old supermodel expressed her thoughts on ageism during a recent interview with People (the Tv Show!), where she recalled that at one point, she was a “reluctant model.”

She said that she once thought that being a model felt like “literally being an apple in a still life,” and that the point was to “look pretty”.

“You just kind of get polished, placed, be quiet, look pretty,” she recalled. “It was a little frustrating to me.”

However, she still acknowledged how “blessed” she was to reach success in the fashion industry so early on, as she first started modelling at the age of 13.

“I never meant to be a model,” she said. “There’s all these other things I had wanted to do. I recognise that I was blessed to be put in this position and to have gotten so successful as I did. You don’t turn your nose up on that. That’s a gift.”

When Porizkova was asked which areas of her industry need to see change, she responded: “Ageism, babe.”

She then proceeded to show off her grey roots and acknowledged that she’s now the “best person” she’s ever been, after revealing that she previously felt “ashamed” about ageing.

“I felt ashamed to be ageing, and then on the other hand you go: ‘But I’m smarter, I’m better, I’m funnier, I’m more patient!” she explained. “Overall as a person, I’m the best I’ve ever been.”

The model also said that she’s “not ready to be dismissed” just because she’s gotten older. “You don’t get to dismiss me because I have some wrinkles and sags and grey hair now, when I’m kind of fabulous, the most fabulous I’ve ever been,” she continued. “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!”

While Porizkova acknowledged the changes that the industry needs to embrace, she also claimed the modelling industry has “gotten a lot better” since she first started, as it has begun embracing different types of beauty.

“I love the movement of body inclusivity and colour inclusivity and celebrating different beauty as beautiful,” she said. “I’m so behind that.”

Porizkova has previously discussed ageism on her social media accounts. In a post shared to Instagram last July, she called out the term anti-ageing, noting how it is not “possible” to stop the ageing process.

“Combat age. Reverse ageing. Rejuvenate. Anti age. None of this is possible,” she wrote in the caption. “Yet, if you do an internet search on ageing, this is what you’ll get.  Pills, potions and workouts to fight the aging process. You know what[‘s] the only way to stop ageing? Dying.”

“I do not want to fight myself everyday for the rest of my life,” she continued. “But I do want to make the best of what I was given. And I want to shine a bright light in the dark corners of the shame that is heaped on women for daring to age.”