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Paulina Porizkova
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My boyfriend [now her husband] thinks I lost my true calling to be a librarian." -Paulina Porizkova

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Paulina Porizkova was born April 9, 1965, in Prostejov, Czechoslovakia. Paulina and her younger brother were left in the care of their grandmother, after their parents fled from their country.

The Porizkova family was reunited after 7 years, albeit not for long, as Paulina's parents got divorced. Since Paulina's mother was busy supporting her children and funding her own medical school education, a 10-year-old Paulina was forced to tend to herself and her brother.

Paulina's life was on the brink of change thanks to a chance encounter with an Elite modeling scout, who spotted her on the street while she was living in Sweden with her family for several years. The offer was extremely tempting for a teenage Paulina who was eager to get out of Sweden and support herself.

Her modeling career flew into high gear after she appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in 1984, and followed up this appearance with a second cover in the 1985 issue of the coveted magazine. During her career, she has appeared in numerous magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, US and Self, and she did a topless shot in GQ.

Besides her 6-million/year contract for Estée Lauder (as Elizabeth Hurley's predecessor), Paulina has appeared in advertisements for Alma, Anne Klein Footwear, Capezio Bags, Episode, Escada, Giorgio Beverly Hills Red fragrance, Macy's, Maybelline, and Mikimoto. Paulina Porizkova had calendars in 1988 and 1989.

Although she had an illustrious career, Paulina was never one to fall into the glamour associated with being a model. Despite the perks that modeling provided, she wasn't proud or happy about her job, mostly because of the connotations that are associated with modeling, so she sought other outlets in which she could express herself more creatively.

With that, after appearing in a documentary about modeling called Portfolio, Paulina attempted to pursue an acting career. She was cast in Covergirl in 1984 and Anna in 1987, but it was in 1989 that she would land her biggest, and most known role to date, co-starring with Tom Selleck (hot off the trails of his Three Men and a Baby success), in the film Her Alibi.

Presently semi-retired as a model, Paulina does have a full-time career as wife of The Cars' lead singer and guitarist, Ric Ocasek; mother of their two sons, Jonathan Raven and Oliver Orion; as well as stepmother to Ocasek's children from a previous marriage.

She has appeared in films since the 1980's, with roles in Arizona Dream, Wedding Bell Blues, Long Time Since, Thursday, The Intern, and Partners in Crime. She turned down the role of the Bond girl in 1995's GoldenEye to spend more time with her young children. Still searching for other film roles that will allow her to develop more as an actress, Paulina delved into the publishing industry by writing a children's book, and shares her take on the fashion industry in her forthcoming novel, A Model Summer.

Blog Entries by Paulina Porizkova

Life Ball 2012: The Viennese Experience

(19) Comments | Posted May 24, 2012 | 3:38 PM

The party started a day early and aboard the Air Austria flight. We were all headed to Vienna for the twentieth Life Ball, Europe's biggest charity event raising money for people with HIV and AIDS.

In the front cabin, Antonio Banderas was charming the crowds with his exquisite manners, the...

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Ending a Midlife Affair with Meds

(1039) Comments | Posted May 18, 2011 | 8:30 AM

I felt guilty. I felt unnatural. I felt ashamed. Finally, I broke down and confessed my dirty little secret to a girlfriend and found that she not only knew what I was talking about, but she was doing it, too. And the more I opened up about it, the more...

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Modeling Is A Great Job And A Sh*tty Career

(86) Comments | Posted February 16, 2011 | 9:10 AM

Yesterday, a lovely woman obliged me by telling me she followed, and loved, my blogs. "But I wasn't sure, from the blogs, what sort of a person you were. You sounded a little sad, a little bitter..." She shrugged.

Bitter? Sad? MOI? I think I actually gasped in horror. All...

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On Politics

(117) Comments | Posted November 1, 2010 | 2:13 PM

I realize the last thing anyone wants to hear from a former supermodel is political commentary. Having been a guest on Parker/Spitzer twice and noting the speed with which my comments sunk, I can't help but understand this is not my element. But likewise, bombarded by political commercials and information,...

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Aging

(456) Comments | Posted October 21, 2010 | 12:39 PM

Old age is the revenge of the ugly ones is a French proverb; one that I first heard at the very advanced age of 15 upon my arrival in Paris. I had spent five years in the ugly bin at school in Sweden, and had only recently been upgraded to...

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The Responsibility Of Beauty

(172) Comments | Posted September 16, 2010 | 8:40 AM

Beauty is a gift, bestowed at random on an unsuspecting individual, usually at birth. But unlike those other gifts also allotted at birth: talent, strength, wit or intelligence --which you have to cultivate to fully develop before you reap rewards-- beauty is instant. Just add water, and boom, you can...

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Fame According To Me

(413) Comments | Posted June 3, 2010 | 2:40 PM

I have now spent over a year trying to figure where in the workplace I belong. It seems there is scant need for once-attractive, now-aging women with no other credits. To compound the problem, the fact that I was once famous makes it really hard on my ego to go...

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Why Kate Hudson's (Alleged) Breast Implants Have Me Heartbroken

(523) Comments | Posted April 22, 2010 | 11:49 AM

Kate Hudson has gotten implants. Allegedly. This news headed straight to my heart from the lips of Wendy Williams who got it from some gossip rag. My coffee was getting cold while I, heartbroken, sadly gazed at the before and after pictures of Kate Hudson on the screen. The before:...

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All the Good Stuff Always Happens in the Ladies Room

(188) Comments | Posted February 15, 2010 | 3:32 PM

At Wednesday's amfAR gala, the creme de la creme of celebrities showed up despite the snowstorm. On the red carpet I was following Fergie, the former Duchess of Windsor (not from the Black Eye Peas), and preceded Julianna Margulies. Fergie and I chatted for a second while Rolling Stone interviewed...

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Valentine's? Bah, Humbug!

(16) Comments | Posted February 13, 2010 | 10:42 AM

There was no Valentine's Day in the Czech Republic, nor in Sweden where I grew up. Coming into it as I did in the '80s in New York City, all I could see were store windows overflowing with cheap pink and red merchandise for which there wasn't all that much...

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And The Shows Go On

(5) Comments | Posted October 6, 2009 | 1:45 PM

The scene backstage is hectic, hot, anticipatory, and a mess. Male models' clothing racks are intermingled with the female ones, everyone is undressing right here, bare feet on industrial gray carpet. Music, or rather the beat of the music, thumps through a heavy black curtain that separates us from lights...

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Summer Reading for Folks Who Want to Seem Kinda Smart

(14) Comments | Posted August 27, 2009 | 3:23 PM

I admit that thanks to a career choice that required not much more than showing up with clean hair and shaved legs, I have a bit of an inferiority complex in the education department. Or in plain speak: I feel the need to constantly prove I'm not some dumb model....

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Fired at 44

(174) Comments | Posted July 9, 2009 | 12:40 PM

I never actually heard the words made famous by a certain man on a certain TV show. Instead I got a lot of harrumphing and vague "I-got-some-bad-news" mumbling. Over the phone. The night before my 44th birthday.

When I was fired from "America's Next Top Model" this past...

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