It’s pretty safe to say that our society values youth as much as it values beauty. Oftentimes, it’s to the point where youth is beauty, and to be old is synonymous with being ugly.
Of course, this isn’t (and shouldn’t be) the case. Aging means that you’ve lived life, and there’s nothing ugly about that! Unfortunately, not everyone’s on the same page there.
Paulina Porizkova, a former supermodel, was insulted by an internet troll after posting a bikini photo. Now, Porizkova is aiming to remind her followers once again to love their bodies exactly the way they are—and to avoid comparisons to “ridiculous standards of perfection.”
Her aim was to share the photo as a way to combat the “ageist shaming” that is running rampant across the internet.
The sexy picture of Porizkova was snapped last year while she was spending time in Costa Rica in Central America. She’s depicted in the middle of a laugh with her hair blowing in the wind. On the side of the photo, the former supermodel shared a comment from the troll that said her looks “fell from a great height.”
“You must be in so much pain to keep posting bikini pictures at your age,” the hateful troll wrote as a message to the blonde bombshell supermodel. “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.”
The troll continued, “Ugly people were always ugly so getting old and ugly isn’t a change. In summary, I feel your pain. I pray you can come to terms with your mortality. We all get old and ugly… You just had to fall from a greater height than the rest of us. Tears times infinity!”
The supermodel refused to let the hater knock her down a peg despite how the person felt that “a woman of fifty-seven is ‘too old to pose in a bikini no matter what she looks like. Because ‘old’ is ‘ugly.’”
She added, “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.”
Porizkova posted a photo of her skimpy black swimsuit that highlights her long legs and tan body. She turned her face up to the sun to enjoy the gorgeous glow of the light and she shared that her sister-in-law, Colleen Ocasek, was the one who took the photo “by the very glamorous grill” while on a commercial shoot for Laura Geller.
And that’s when Porizkova decided to head off her haters with a wise message about honoring all types of bodies.
She started off by addressing anyone who might have a critical word about her body.
“For those of you who are tempted to tell me to eat a burger, I’m tempted to tell you NOT to eat one,” she wrote. “But won’t.” That’s when she leaned into her words of inspiration, adding, “Body shaming is so last decade. Let’s celebrate who we are, wrinkles and imperfections and all.” And of course, we love a good Porizkova hashtag because she always includes one or two humorous ones. Her latest post included, “#betweenjloandbettywhite #sexyhasnoexpirationdate.”
Porizkova is making sure women over the age of 50 are heard because she’s tired of the ageism and sexism in society. Her social media pages have become a sounding board for many women who feel the same way — and the supermodel might be starting a movement that has a lasting impact.
Watch the video below for more details:
