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MODEL BEHAVIOR

Supermodel Opens Up About Her 20-Pound Weight Gain

“Thank you for being real.”

Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

PublishedJun 11, 2026, 2:56 PM EDT

UpdatedJun 11, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Updated Jun 11, 2026, 3:00 PM EDTPublished Jun 11, 2026, 2:56 PM EDT

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Supermodel Paulina Porizkova is being praised for her openness about the bodily changes she has experienced as she has aged.

​On June 10, the 61-year-old fashion-industry icon shared an Instagram video detailing the evolution of her figure over the past five years, centering her message on acceptance.

Her transparency and positivity elicited enthusiastic gratitude from fans, including many women who related to Porizkova’s experience.

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“Sorting out my clothes for the move, and working on acceptance,” she wrote in the caption. “Have to remind myself that ACCEPTANCE IS NOT DEFEAT! Merely a different door.”

She begins the video by saying, “Same pair of jeans, a difference of five years and 20 pounds.”

The first shot of the video shows a golden-haired Porizkova in a bright yellow bra, her fingers tugging at the loose waistline of her fully zipped jeans.

In the second, she switches to a black bra, her now-gray hair tied into a small, messy bun, as her hand tugs at the button of her unzipped pants, which are now tight-fitting.

“In the first photo, I had just come from shooting a survivor-like reality show in Panama,” she says in a voiceover, “where we had four-hour insane physical challenges every day and a very tiny amount of food.”

​In 2022, the model competed in the reality TV wilderness game show, Beyond the Edge.

“I was possibly at my thinnest, 128 pounds (bottom 5’11) since I had stopped full-time modeling in my 20s,” she says. “But my hips were so painful, I had to crawl upstairs in my apartment and take painkillers almost every day.”

​Porizkova’s legendary modeling career included two back-to-back Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition covers in 1983 and in 1984.

At just 18, the Czechoslovakia-born model became the first Central European woman to appear on the magazine’s cover.

The video then cuts to a photo of Porizkova stretching her hip using a thick white foam roller.

“I had pretty good muscle tone, though, from all the exercise,” she explains.

“The second photo is me now,” she says, referring back to the present-day image of her in the black bra and unzipped jeans.

She continues, “I am 148 [pounds]. I no longer fit into my old jeans, and I suspect I never will again, and I’m not trying.”

The video then switches to the model playfully lying on a pile of clothes, wearing a button-up and glasses perched on her forehead.

She explains, “For the last week, I’ve been sorting out my clothes and getting rid of probably half that I have been able to wear all the way up until my bilateral hip replacement two years ago. After that, my body changed.”

The camera then pans to a room filled with clothing, racks, and piles.

Porizkova then shares a video of herself grabbing her loose skin and muscles. She clarifies, “My arms and boobs got fuller, as did my lower belly and my thighs.”

“In preparation for my wedding, I’ve been going to the gym four times a week, and I must say, I’ve never felt so strong,” she says. “But my weight has stayed the same, and my proportions have stayed the same, so I kiss a lot of my precious clothing pieces adieu, and I hope they find a good partner elsewhere.”

Porizkova plans to marry her fiancé, television writer Jeff Greenstein. The couple met on Tinder in 2023 and were engaged in 2025.

Greenstein, 62, and Porizkova co-host a podcast about finding love in late life called Twenty Good Summers.

She closes her video, “Acceptance is not defeat. It’s only the realization that one door is closed, and it’s time to open another… not that I’m so great at it.”

The comments on Porizkova’s post were supportive, including a message from Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross, 64, who wrote, “You are Lucious. Lucky Jeff. So Happy for you two.”

“We love your authenticity,” wrote Grace Strobel, a 29-year-old model who advocates for people with disabilities in the fashion industry. “No matter what, you are beautiful inside and out. Thank you for being real.”​

Non-models, too, said the message resonated with them.

“Thank you,” one person wrote. “Dealing with the same issues as a 66-year-old, your words have validated what I’ve been trying to tell myself... And you are stunningly beautiful, inside and out.”

“I just tossed a bunch of clothes too, liberating,” another said. “Acceptance of ourselves is a radical truth that is truly healing.”

Porizkova has been praised in the past for her honesty and openness about her body.

In March, she explained that the secrets to looking “fabulous” at 60 were in posing and lighting, before showing off her tummy and loose skin.

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After pulling back from the peak of her modeling career in the 1990s, Porizkova found success in publishing. Her 2007 novel, A Model Summer, follows a 15-year-old Swedish model whose story mimics Porizkova’s life on and off the runway.

​Her 2022 nonfiction debut, No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, explores her experiences with modeling, motherhood, and marriage through a series of essays.

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Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

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