Supermodel Paulina Porizkova says she would take clothes off 'to get through it and please people'
Paulina Porizkova has told how she spent her younger years desperately seeking approval from the authority figures in her life.
Whether she was jumping through hoops to win over her parents or 'taking her top off' to impress modelling agents, the Czechoslovakia-born star was eager to please.
The supermodel, actress and author said she only started to feel as though she was finally 'being loved exactly for who she is' two years ago.
Porizkova first caught the eye of modelling scouts when she was a teenager and became a formidable force in Paris during the 1980s.
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The 60-year-old posed for the likes of Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar in her heyday, while appearing in campaigns for fashion giants such as Chanel, Versace, Hermes, Christian Dior and Oscar De La Renta.
She ended up enjoying a successful TV career too and enjoyed stints on shows such as America's Next Top Model, Dancing with the Stars, as well as roles in films including Anna and Arizona Dream.
These kind of achievements would make most parents burst with pride - but Porizkova has explained it was an uphill battle to prove herself to her mother and father.
During a recent episode of the Twenty Good Summers podcast, which she hosts alongside her fiancé Jeff Greenstein, the former model opened up about the pressure she felt to perform.
Although she doesn't think 'it was intentional', she told listeners that her parents inadvertently 'set her up to feel like unless she pleased them, she didn't get a seat at the table'.
"They didn't actually like me unless I performed," the former face of Estée Lauder said. "I remember them sticking me on stage when I was like three-years-old."
Porizkova recalled how she had been taken to a local theatre and the crowd was asked if any children wanted to show off their talents - and her dad coaxed her to get up.
"I remember the lights being so incredibly bright that I couldn't see my parents," she said. "I couldn't see anything beyond the stage itself. And I was f***ing terrified. I was so scared. And I thought, 'Well, the quickest way to get this over and done with is to sing a song'. If I sing the song, then they will just sweep me back off."
After winning over the audience, Porizkova said it gave her a 'taste for that kind of validation', adding: "My parents seemed to like me better when I could do things like that. Otherwise, they didn't seem to pay a whole lot of attention to me...I think I learned fairly early on that nobody really cared about what I wanted or how I felt, that it was all about putting on a show. This is the only way people are going to like you."
She explained that this 'same story kept replaying itself' when she entered the world of modelling as a 15-year-old - and by default, she slipped right back into people pleasing-mode.
Her career took off shortly after renowned scout John Casablancas came across her and invited her to Paris.
"When I began modelling at 15, it was just the same story all over again," Porizkova continued. "The quickest way to get out of a situation was do as you're told.
"And if that meant taking my top off, if that meant, you know, doing X, Y and Z, well...then I just did that. Because that was the easiest way to get through it and also to please people."
In a social media post shared earlier this year, Porizkova opened up about the darker side of the modelling industry that she encountered.
"Sometimes the people I was seeing were well-dressed and in offices, and sometimes they were middle-aged guys in messy apartments who just wanted to take a few casual photos of me — you know, preferably topless," she said in an Instagram video. I’ve lost count of the amount of men in open bathrobes who greeted me in their hotel rooms or apartments where I have been sent by an agency or clients.”
Topics: Celebrity, Parenting, Podcast, Celebrity News
Olivia Burke