Photo: David Sedlecký, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Paulina Porizkova's Hard-Won Lesson for Women About Money and Independence

By Katie Wilkins

After her husband's death left her cut out of his will and struggling to pay for groceries, the former supermodel is speaking candidly about what she learned and why she'll never hand over control of her life again.

Paulina Porizkova has never been one to hide the hard parts. In SheKnows magazine's "The Money Issue," the now 61-year-old former supermodel opens up about the financial crisis she faced after the 2019 death of her estranged husband, The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, who left her out of his will.

Keeping up appearances while falling apart

Porizkova admits that, at her lowest point, she longed to tell the world the truth. "I wish I could have just given it up on Instagram and [said], 'I'm so f—ed right now,'" she said. "My friends are buying all the food because I don't have any money for groceries, and I'm stressing out because I'm trying to sell my house."

But she knew that kind of honesty came at a cost. "Doing that would have meant having my legs sawed off at the knee," she explained. "It would have improved my mood, but it would have screwed me."

Grief made the situation even harder to manage. "I was so upset and so crushed, I couldn't even make myself a lunch or take a shower," she told the magazine, "let alone go to a business manager or an accountant and attempt to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing with my financial situation."

Learning money from the ground up

Years later, Porizkova has taken charge of her finances, but she's honest that confidence hasn't come easily. "I don't feel confident," she said. After a lifetime of leaving money matters to others, she explained, financial literacy didn't arrive overnight. "I didn't suddenly become financially literate one day. I still feel like I'm only just beginning to understand this."

Looking back, she calls handing her finances over to her husband a "mistake," not because she trusted him, but because of how she trusted him.

"I did not make a mistake in trusting my husband; I trusted him in the wrong way when I handed myself over to him like, 'Here. You look after me,'" she said. "That was a great lesson, and I've definitely internalized it. Never again will I give myself over to anyone that way."

A long marriage and a painful ending

The pair first met in 1984 on the set of the music video for "Drive." Porizkova was 19; Ocasek was around 40. They married in 1989 and had two sons together.

After nearly three decades of marriage, they separated in 2017, a decision Porizkova has linked to longstanding problems in the relationship. She has recalled, for example, that when Ocasek was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, "he was the only guy who didn't thank his wife on the podium."

Although the couple continued to share a home, living in separate bedrooms, Porizkova began dating publicly and was in a new relationship when Ocasek died. The hardest part of that time, she said through tears, was her sons' grief: "Watching the pain my children were going through was probably one of the worst things that has happened to me."

The blows kept coming. On the very day she moved out of the home she had shared with Ocasek, her boyfriend ended their relationship "when I probably needed him the most," she said. She later reached a settlement with Ocasek's estate in 2021.

Rebuilding herself

Rather than rushing into what came next, Porizkova stepped back to take stock of who she had become. She committed to the work of learning to be single again through therapy, reading, meditation and more.

What she found was a woman much like the girl she had once been, without the starry eyes, boundless hope and naïveté, but with a deeper sense of gratitude and a clear understanding of her own strength.

That strength led her somewhere new.

In 2023, Porizkova began dating Emmy-winning television writer Jeff Greenstein, whom she met on a dating app. The couple got engaged in July 2025 and married in Florence, Italy, in July 2026.

Katie Wilkins works at a major bank, where she specializes in supporting women-owned small businesses. She's passionate about helping women take control of their finances, whether they're launching a business, growing one or planning for the next chapter. Katie is married with one child, and in her free time you'll find her sailing.