New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020nypost.comF
ROM the beginning, the romance seemed
like the stuff of rock ’n’ roll dreams:
musician meets model on the set of a video.
Timothy Hutton, who directed the 1984 video
for The Cars’ “Drive,” told casting people at the
time he had wanted a “tall exotic woman with
something fierce” about her. The Czech
model, 19 at the time, fit the bill. More
than just a pretty face — she was that
year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Is-
sue cover girl — Porizkova was able to
act out an emotional meltdown in the
clip. Hutton later told Vanity Fair, “I
felt something between [Ocasek and
Porizkova] instantly.”
The two wed five years later, when
she was 24 and he was 45.
“Ric was always in awe of her,” said
a music exec who helped produce
the “Drive” video. “He was married
when he met Paulina and she was
very young, but it was love at first
sight. He couldn’t believe anyone that
beautiful would want to be with him.”
The model’s star shone bright as her
husband’s began to fade. The Cars
continued to release albums through-
out the 1980s, but to fewer sales, and
broke up in 1989.
Porizkova garnered covers of Vogue,
Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and more, as well
as campaigns for brands including
Chanel, Christian Dior, and Revlon. In
1988, she won what was then the high-
est-paying model contract in the
world: $6 million from Estée Lauder.
After that ended in 1995, she landed amultimillion-dollar contract with Escada.
“Paulina was successful and she lasted.
The [models] who lack good work ethics
tend not to last. It’s more than looks,” said
Michael Gross, author of “Model: The Ugly
Business of Beautiful Women.”
Porizkova has said she put her life’s earn-
ings “into the marriage” but has not re-
vealed how much of her own money is left.
“She wasn’t crazy materialistic, but Pau-
lina got used to a pretty comfortable life,”
said one modeling agent who knows her.
In more recent years, the couple’s dynamic
shifted. “As Paulina got older and was work-
ing less... she seemed more dependent on
[Ocasek],” said the music exec. “I think she
really resented him for that in the end.”
The model, who did not respond to The
Post’s requests for comment, told “CBS
This Morning”: “It’s really hard to be mar-
ried to somebody if you’re the only one put-
ting in all the work.”
Nonetheless, she stayed in the house,
caring for Ocasek as his health failed.
“He was still the man that I loved and that
I had grown up with,” she told CBS. “And I
couldn’t really imagine life without him.”O
CASEk’S estate is said to be worth
$5 million, according to court docu-
ments. Porizkova plans to contest the
will, which would grant her what’s called
“an elective share” under state law unless it
can actually be proven that she did, in fact,
abandon him. Ocasek also did not leave
money to two sons from his second mar-
riage but did provide for two others fromhis first marriage as well as his sons with
Porizkova, his third wife.
Divorce attorney Nicole Noonan told The
Post: “In the state of New York, if they are
still married [at the time of his death], she is
entitled to a... share of the estate... They
got married with the promise of sticking to-
gether through sickness and health and she
showed that — despite whatever frame of
mind he may have been in at that time
when he rewrote the will. You can’t disin-
herit your spouse. You can disinherit every-
one — except for your spouse.
The question now is how Porizkova will
make money to support herself. In addition
to forthright Instagram posts about her liv-
ing situation, she has also taken to posting
unfiltered photos that show her as who she
truly is. And while she has admitted she’s
never loved modeling, she seems to be de-
termined to carve a new path in that world.
“Grief is certainly no beauty maker. My
eyelids are starting to droop. The jowly bits
next to my mouth don’t only make me look
older but also somehow bitter,” she posted
in January. “Now, how can I help to make all
this — what we consider flaws — to be seen
differently, to be seen as confidence and
beauty of a mature age rather than some-
thing that needs to be eliminated?”
“She’s certainly never had to worry about
working. Now she does — but she’s very
smart, very capable, resourceful,” said the
modeling agent. “If the court decision
doesn’t go her way, I’m sure her sons will
help, and she will reinvent in a new and
interesting way, I have no doubt.”MODEL’S BIG
CARS CRASH
grief over late hubby’s cruelty
Getty Images; FilmMagic; Instagram (3)Inside Paulina’s Gramercy Park home as she moves out
Sept. 1: “Beginning the process of
letting go... of thirty years... everything
that made me feel safe,” Porizkova wrote
on Instagram. “Today is not a good day.”Oct. 16: “Last two days in my house.
It’s empty, cold and dirty. I’ve never cried
as much as I have in the last year. I was
never a crier... This year has shown me
I had tears to spare.”Oct. 13: “The trucks are
here. Two hundred and
nineteen boxes... And this is
just the beginning of the end.”