Paulina Porizkova Responds To Ageist Critics Of Nude Photos

Paulina Porizkova responded ageist criticism of her Instagram photos while guest starring on Friday’s episode of The Tamron Hall Show. She said she spends a lot of time thinking about the backlash she receives on more revealing photos because she was praised for her sexy figure when she was younger.

“In my 20s, I was celebrated for showing up in lingerie. I was getting a lot of money for it and everybody loved me,” Porizkova told Tamron Hall. “In my 50s, I still think I look pretty good in lingerie, but the reaction is reviled, obviously not by everybody, but yeah, there’s a fair amount of backlash.”

Porizkova said that when you reach your 40s, there’s an “invisible boundary” where you “don’t look fertile anymore” that relates to menopause.

“And maybe it’s because you’re starting to look a little like people’s mom, that sexy is not allowed,” Porizkova said. “You’re allowed to be beautiful, you’re allowed to be handsome, you’re allowed to be present, you’re allowed to be shocking or eye opening, but you are not allowed to be sexy.”

Porizkova posted a naked photo of herself in February and talked about body image and getting older in the caption. She said the post was inspired by “the brouhaha around a sexy photo of @elizabethhurley1.”

“When I was in my twenties and thirties, the less I wore – the more popular I was,” she wrote. “In my forties, I could walk around practically naked and elicit nothing more than a ticket for public indecency. At fifty, I am reviled for it. “Put on your clothes, grandma. Hungry for attention, are you? A little desperate here? You’re pathetic.””

The star asked why sexiness and nudity are encouraged in a woman’s youth and shunned when she reaches middle age.

“Because of men. Men are biologically programmed to spread their seed, inserting themselves into fertile containers which advertise their viability through youth. What does this say for men who do not want children? Men who have all the kids they wanted? Men who don’t want kids right this second? Unevolved,” she wrote. “And what does this say for women like myself, who need to be validated by the male gaze? Insecure. The only thing that is pathetic here is allowing others to set your priorities.”

Porizkova has been open about double standards in aging in the past.