Porizkova, Paulina

Paulina Porizkova is a writer born in Cold War Czechoslovakia, now known as the Czech Republic, and a former model who in 1988 became one of the highest-paid catwalkers in the world as the face of Estée Lauder. She has acted in 16 movies and several TV shows and has served as a judge on America’s Next Top Model. Her debut novel, A Model Summer, was published in 2007. No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful (The Open Field) is her nonfiction debut. No Filter tells the story of how Porizkova rose to prominence as a model, appearing on her first Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover in 1984. That same year, she was cast in the music video for the song “Drive” by The Cars; it was love at first sight for her and frontman Ric Ocasek. He was 40 and Porizkova was 19. The next decades would bring marriage, motherhood, a budding writing career – and later sadness, loneliness, isolation, and divorce. Following her former husband’s death, which came with a revelation of a deep betrayal, Porizkova stunned fans with her vulnerability and disarming honesty as she reckoned with that betrayal and started over. After a lifetime of being looked at, she is ready to be heard.