Before The Big Six - Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss, and Christy Turlington - landed on the catwalks of the 90s, another young woman of Czechoslovakian origin became the most famous face on the planet.
Paulina Poritzkova (61) was discovered by one of the best talent scouts in the fashion world, John Casablancas, the Catalan entrepreneur who built an empire with the Elite modeling agency. It all started when one of Paulina's friends did the makeup for her acquaintances and sent the photos to different agencies.
Her destiny was clear. She moved to Paris to take off towards success. Undoubtedly, this was the first stroke of luck in her life, as her parents emigrated to Sweden in 1968 due to the Warsaw Pact troops, leaving their only daughter in the care of her grandmother at just three years old. In Czechoslovakia, the authorities confiscated their lands, they were wanted, and prevented them from regaining custody of their daughter.
Paulina went six years without seeing them. There were several failed kidnapping attempts by various Swedish pilots to take her to the Scandinavian country, but they failed. There was another attempt when her mother, Anna Porizkova, tried to cross the border with a fake passport, for which she was arrested and placed under house arrest.
When the case became public, the Swedish people were outraged. Pressures against the communist government were ineffective until Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme - his 1986 assassination still breaks the hearts of the EU - took action to have Anna released and, finally, the reunion between Paulina and her parents took place.
But the family's happiness did not last long. Her father, Jií Poízka, a descendant of Moravian nobility and director of the ergonomic institute at Lund University Hospital, not only abandoned them but also refused to pay child support to Paulina and her younger brother.
The hunger and need that Paulina experienced during her childhood were almost forgotten when in 1984 she became the first girl from Central and Eastern Europe to get the cover of Sports Illustrated, which at that time was the pinnacle for a model to make her way internationally.
Paulina was the most coveted and sought-after woman of the 80s. Chanel, Dior, and Oscar de la Renta fought over her, as did Elle, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. In 1988, she landed the best fashion contract by signing with Estée Lauder for six million dollars. And when she was at the peak, she left everything for the love of Ric Ocasek, the leader of the rock band The Cars, whom she had met in 1984 during the filming of the music video Drive.
They didn't marry until August 1989 and had two children, Jonathan Raven (33) and Oliver (27). At the beginning of their relationship, the artist almost dominated the model by telling her how to dress, behave, and speak. In a 2021 interview on The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, the supermodel confessed that she complied "with his wishes because not doing so would mean losing his love, and his love was more important to me than any career, any friend, or anything I wanted to read or do."
When she finally opened her eyes, Paulina began to defy him, causing their marriage to crumble. In 2017, they decided to file for divorce, although they often continued living under the same roof. The big surprise came when two years later Paulina found Ric's body on the bed of the apartment after he suddenly passed away following a lung operation.
The opening of the will was a harsh blow. Her still-husband had disinherited her accusing her of abandonment, as well as her two older children from a previous marriage. "I felt betrayed," she has repeated in successive interviews.
"It simply shattered my world and everything I knew. It's a betrayal. It's a betrayal of my trust, my love, and everything I put into him for years and years and years. And I have no way of knowing what led him to do this," she emphasized in several statements to English and American media.
The model, who also found success as an actress and writer, began a long process towards forgiveness some time ago, although deep down in her heart, she blames no one. About her marriage, she wrote on Instagram: "It was a selfish love for both of us. But it worked wonderfully for a long time (...) although he was 21 years older and, in many ways, replaced my parents during our 35 years, I was the one who was very protective of him." She also compared her story to "childhood scars that are placed in such a way on our bodies that, by embracing them, they fit perfectly."
After the last wishes of The Cars' leader were revealed, Paulina hired a legal team to fight against the disinheritance under New York law, eventually reaching an agreement on her late husband's estate.
In a few months, Porizkova will remarry producer and TV writer Jeff Greenstein, whom she met in 2023 through a dating app. But while they prepare for their wedding, the model has received the unpleasant news that after six years living in a Manhattan apartment, her landlord has decided not to renew her lease. Therefore, when the couple returns to New York, they will be forced to find a new home.