Paulina Porizkova felt ‘objectified’ during her early shoots for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, which began on a Jamaican beach in 1982 when she was just 17 years old.
‘When I felt objectified, it was because I didn’t have a say in how I was portrayed,’ the Czech-born 59-year-old recalled in the documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue.
‘Now, when I put myself out in a ʙικιɴι or nothing, that’s my choice. To me, it’s objectification or celebration. Can it be both at the same time? I don’t see why not. We have been taught that our bodies are valuable if they’re pretty. So then if you exhibit that body, you are “technically” objectifying yourself. But you’re also celebrating yourself.’
Paulina (born Pavlína Pořízková) added: ‘We, as women, this is what we have been given as our powers, and then we are shamed for using them. Women will be shamed for everything, won’t they?’
The doc centers on the late trailblazer Jule Campbell who died, age 96, in 2022 after serving 32 years as the founding editor of SI Swimsuit between 1964-1996.
‘This is what Jule taught me: When you have a ʙικιɴι on, all you have to do is embrace your body and who you are,’ Porizkova said.
Paulina Porizkova felt ‘objectified’ during her early shoots for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, which began on a Jamaican beach in 1982 when she was just 17 years old
The Czech-born 59-year-old recalled in the documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, ‘When I felt objectified, it was because I didn’t have a say in how I was portrayed’
Read More Paulina Porizkova admits she felt ‘endless freaking shame’ after 50 
‘There’s such a sense of freedom to that.’
The silver-haired model-writer – who appeared in seven total issues of SI Swimsuit – made history in 1984 as the first woman from Central Europe to appear on the cover, which she repeated in 1985.
‘It’s so funny because the sH๏τs are so much less overt,’ Paulina said of her old shoots.
‘They’re so much less Sєxually explicit or whatever it is these days, but this is where we get to how times have changed. We have, I think, evolved as a society. Things that were absolutely normal and acceptable 40 years ago no longer are.’
On Monday, Porizkova was hard at work modeling for Vogue Czechoslovakia inside Jean Paul Gaultier’s atelier in Paris.
On the personal front, the Model CoOp-repped beauty has two sons – video game designer Jonathan Raven Ocasek, 31; and software engineer Oliver Orion Ocasek, 26 – from her 27-year marriage to The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, which acrimoniously ended in 2017.
The six-time Grammy nominee disinherited her in his will before he died, age 75, from natural causes in 2019, but she settled with his estate in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
Kim Alexis, Carol Alt, Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Jule Campbell, MJ Day, Kathy Ireland, Elle Macpherson, Roshumba Williams, Stacey Williams, Cheryl Tiegs, and Walter Iooss were also interviewed for the 107-minute documentary.
Director Jill Campbell attended a screening of Beyond the Gaze at Village East by Angelika in Manhattan on Monday alongside former SI Swimsuit stunners Carol, Elle, and Roshumba.
Beyond the Gaze is currently available to stream VOD online through December 1, and the next in-person screening will take place December 6 at Sag Harbor Cinema during Hamptons Doc Fest.
Paulina added: ‘Now, when I put myself out in a ʙικιɴι or nothing, that’s my choice. To me, it’s objectification or celebration. Can it be both at the same time? I don’t see why not’ (pictured July 29)
The doc centers on the late trailblazer Jule Campbell who died, age 96, in 2022 after serving 32 years as the founding editor of SI Swimsuit between 1964-1996
Porizkova said, ‘This is what Jule taught me: When you have a ʙικιɴι on, all you have to do is embrace your body and who you are. There’s such a sense of freedom to that’
The silver-haired model-writer – who appeared in seven total issues of SI Swimsuit – made history in 1984 as the first woman from Central Europe to appear on the cover, which she repeated in 1985
On Monday, Paulina was hard at work modeling for Vogue Czechoslovakia inside Jean Paul Gaultier’s atelier in Paris
Kim Alexis, Carol Alt, Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Jule Campbell, MJ Day, Kathy Ireland, Elle Macpherson, Roshumba Williams, Stacey Williams, Cheryl Tiegs, and Walter Iooss were also interviewed for the 107-minute documentary now streaming VOD
Director Jill Campbell (M) attended a screening of Beyond the Gaze at Village East by Angelika in Manhattan on Monday alongside former SI Swimsuit stunners Carol, Elle, and Roshumba
