Paulina Porizkova had some choice words for a critic on Instagram.
The 57-year-old model shared a side-by-side photo of herself in a bikini alongside a screenshot of a spiteful comment she received.
Porizkova often uses her platform to highlight the double standards that women face in society, posts deep messages about combating ageism, and uplifts women in hopes of helping them find beauty on their own terms.
So, naturally, she wasn’t going to stand back when an online user insinuated that she must be in “so much pain to keep posting bikini pictures at your age.”
The comment continued: “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,” with the user adding, “I pray you can come to terms with your mortality.”
Porizkova wasted no time clapping back.
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She kicked off her reply by underscoring the problem, explaining that the comment “echoes a few others.”
“A woman of 57 is “too old” to pose in a bikini - no matter what she looks like. Because “Old” is “Ugly,” she wrote.
She continued: “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. People who believe prettiness equals beauty do not understand beauty. Pretty is easy on the eyes, partly because it’s a little bland, inoffensive. It’s easy to take in and easy to forget."
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“Not so beauty. Beauty can be sharp. It can wound you and leave a scar. To perceive beauty you have to be able to SEE. This is why I believe we get more beautiful with age. We have earned our beauty, we understand what it is, and we can see it so much better. There is no such thing as ugly and old. Only shortsighted and ignorant," she continued.
She then made it very clear that she wasn’t posting because she needed sympathy but rather because it is a “pervasive sentiment that needs to be done away with. So we can be proud of aging, as we deserve to be!”
Last July, she penned a post about her disdain with society’s obsession with staying youthful and the pressure put on women to not age. She also called out the harmful effects of phrases such as “reverse aging."
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“Combat age. Reverse aging. Rejuvenate. Anti age. None of this is possible. Yet, if you do an internet search on aging, this is what you’ll get. Pills, potions and workouts to fight the aging process,” she began as she flaunted her abs in a gold bikini and natural gray hair.
“You know [what’s] the only way to stop aging? Dying,” she clarified.
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