Paulina Porizkova is standing her ground after an ageist commenter had the audacity to criticize the supermodel for posting images of herself in a bikini.
The model, 57, who routinely exposes the double standards women face as they age, posted a side-by-side photo featuring herself in a bikini next to a screenshot of the vitriolic comment.
“You must be in so much pain to keep posting bikini pictures at your age,” the comment read. “I’ve always thought that getting old and ugly is hardest on the pretty people. The fall from grace is so much farther when you were beautiful,” ending with, “I pray you can come to terms with your mortality.”
Naturally, Porizkova, who has a long history of elevating women and helping others redefine beauty in themselves, wasted no time calling the composer out.
“A woman of 57 is ‘too old’ to pose in a bikini — no matter what she looks like,” she wrote in the caption, acknowledging that these types of sentiments are shared by many others.
“Because ‘Old’ is “Ugly,’” she continued. “I get comments like these every time I post a photo of my body. This is the ageist shaming that sets my teeth on edge. Older men are distinguished, older women are ugly. People who believe prettiness equals beauty do not understand beauty. Pretty is easy on the eyes, partly because it’s a little bland, inoffensive. It’s easy to take in and easy to forget.”
She continued, “Not so beauty. Beauty can be sharp. It can wound you and leave a scar. To perceive beauty you have to be able to SEE. This is why I believe we get more beautiful with age. We have earned our beauty, we understand what it is, and we can see it so much better. There is no such thing as ugly and old. Only shortsighted and ignorant.”
The supermodel then concluded with, “PS. I’m not posting this because I feel bad and need sympathy- quite on the contrary! I’m posting this because this is a pervasive sentiment that needs to be done away with. So we can be proud of aging, as we deserve to be!”
Almost immediately, Paulina’s followers jumped in to support her.
“You look amazing and your words are wise and insightful,” one wrote, while another added, “Ummm if I look like you at 57 I’m going to the grocery store in a bikini.”
“We all need reeducation, relearning about beauty and unlearn what was learned from media portrayal, standards set based on youth and of course from social media too,” one observer said.
“That is a miserable person projecting on you,” another wrote. “You look absolutely incredible… Most women in their 20s wish they had a body like that… Social media can be great but in other ways it gives voices to people who shouldn’t be Heard spreading their negativity… Keep being u your absolutely amazing.”
The supermodel, who recently appeared on the CBS reality show Beyond the Edge, competing in grueling physical tasks while living in the Panamanian jungle, is no stranger to divulging her story.
Known for sharing sexy images, always with a larger message about aging and beauty, she recently opened up about the importance of embracing imperfections.
“When I love someone, lover or friend, I find them the most beautiful people in the world,” the former America’s Next Top Model judge said on Instagram earlier this month alongside a stunning photo showing of her grey hair.
“Sure, I see and can admire their ‘perfections’, eyes, skin, legs, jawlines, hair, lips — but it’s their IMPERFECTIONS, their so-called-flaws, that make me swoon,” she added. “It’s those that make me tender and faint with my love for them.”
She later called these imperfections the “very things that make them perfect — to ME.”
Following her rigorous work on Beyond the Edge, Porizkova credited Pilates with helping her keep her figure long and lean after a minor hip injury.
“Taking a break and trying to figure out how to fix my hips after my jungle adventure,” she wrote alongside a photo of herself in a blue bikini. “I haven’t been able to walk properly for months. After a week of trying to figure out the culprits and working out and eating healthy, I think I’m back on track. I count myself as incredibly lucky to have been able to do this, and very grateful indeed.”
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