Paulina Porizkova Says France Finds Aging Women ‘Sexy’ Compared to U.S.

Legendary supermodel and pro-aging advocate Paulina Porizkova, 60, has shared her perspective on how women who are aging are perceived differently in France compared to the United States.

“In France older women are seen as sexy,” she told The Telegraph. “Not in America. Either they’re trying hard not to look their age or they disappear. You became invisible.”

Porizkova was born in Czechoslovakia and fled with her parents to Sweden at age 3 to escape the Soviet-led invasion of her home country. She moved to Paris in the 1980s to pursue a modeling career and has been living in the U.S. for the past 43 years.

In an interview with the British publication, Porizkova addressed the concept of aging in a time when youthfulness dominates popular culture, saying that for her, “it’s a very narrow blade,” and “the balance is tricky.”

“I haven’t done anything to my face, which I think is pretty obvious,” she said. “And it’s not that I’m not tempted. I’m tempted on a daily basis.”

Porizkova, who’s known for embracing her gray hair, admits there are “so many things that I could do to make myself look a little younger.

“And then I keep reminding myself that there’s nothing wrong with the way I look, besides society telling me that I should look younger,” she said. ​Regarding her love life, Porizkova shared her grief after losing her husband, Cars front man Ric Ocasek, in 2019. ​“It was the worst thing I’ve ever been through,” she said. “I felt utterly alone. I took to Instagram because I was so lonely.” ​In 2023, Porizkova met her fiancé, writer and television producer Jeff Greenstein, 61. Last month, she called it the “second-longest relationship of my life” on Instagram.

The former America’s Next Top Model judge also discussed her rise to fame as a model for Estée Lauder in the 1980s.

“As a model, you are an object,” she said. “You are a clothes hanger or a canvas to put products on to sell to other people. And so, it was not the happiest of my time in life.”

Porizkova said she was “incredibly blessed to have such a fantastic career” but didn’t “necessarily feel like I was important,” because the emphasis was on “the way I looked.”

“And, you know, as a young woman, it feels like half of you is being ignored,” she said. But she points out that “chasing youth takes a lot of [expletive] time, and a lot of [expletive] money.”

“I’m in the last third of my life,” Porizkova explained. “I might have 20 good summers left. Do I want to spend them in a dermatologist’s office trying to make ‘this’ look younger? No, I want to enjoy my life. I want to have the best time.”

Porizkova also said, “I love my age. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I wouldn’t trade it for any other age.”

AARP offers tips on aging, including nine simple habits that can help slow the aging process.