Early in her career, Paulina Porizkova helped to sell a “vision of beauty inextricably linked to youth.” Now, she can’t get enough of her gray hair.
Speaking with Harper’s BAZAAR about her newly rekindled Estée Lauder partnership — she previously partnered with the beauty brand from 1988 to 1995 — in an April 28 interview, the Swedish supermodel and actress, 60, revealed that she loves her hair more than ever since going gray.
After being asked what aspect of her physical appearance she loves now, Porizkova said, “I love my gray hair.”
“It still requires maintenance,” Porizkova continued, “believe it or not, but I feel very good about my hair.”
The “best part” of growing old overall, the supermodel told Harper’s BAZAAR, “is that you finally turn into the person that you were meant to be all along. And perhaps that’s not always a happy finding.”
“But,” the former Sports Illustrated cover model continued, “I think if you try to live your life with an understanding that other people matter, that connections matter, and that love matters, then you won’t be disappointed with who that person is that you truly are.”
As for how old she feels, Porizkova told Harper’s BAZAAR, “Do I feel younger? No. But every year I feel smarter, wiser, and better. So, I guess that makes me 60!”
The model also answered a question about what keeps her feeling “vibrant and youthful” — and joked that her reply sounds “like an Instagram meme.”
“Hope,” she responded. “And how do you cultivate hope? Gratitude. I sound like an Instagram meme, but unfortunately, it’s kind of true. Because I’ve gone through a part of life where I utterly lost hope, I understand what it’s like when you’re living a life you don’t want.”
“And it’s a horrible feeling. It robs you of everything,” Porizkova continued. “So, hope is really the most important thing there is.”
The star also said she wrote something similar in her book, seemingly referring to her 2022 memoir No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful. Porizkova stands by what she wrote, she said, “because if you have hope, even that just tomorrow is going to be a better day, then you’ve got it.”
“And I have hope,” she told the magazine. “I’ve had hope for a while that tomorrow will be a better day, and now I have the gratitude that it is better every day.”
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While speaking with PEOPLE in 2023, Porizkova said that another pro of aging is “caring less and less” about the opinions of others.
“One of the incredible things about aging is that you care less and less about what other people think,” she admitted at the time. “You’re like, ‘You know what? I’ve done my bit. I’ve been serving everybody else for 50 years — now, it’s my turn.’ ”
At the time, the model also said she knows “without a doubt that I am the best that I’ve ever been.”
“Why do I need improvement? I’m in my prime right now,” Porizkova continued. “I’m sorry that you think my wrinkles dismiss me from being in my prime, but as a person, as a fully formed woman at the height of her power, this is it.”
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