Paulina Porizkova on Monday posted a rare candid photograph of herself embracing her late husband, Ric Ocasek, and reflected on the nature of the relationship that preceded the couple's separation in 2017 and Ocasek's death in 2019.
In an Instagram post to her roughly 1.3 million followers, the Czech-born model and writer described their bond as a "selfish kind of love" that "worked beautifully for a long time." She wrote that, despite a 21-year age difference and the ways Ocasek "filled in for my parents during our 35 years," she had been "sharply protective of HIM," adding that she had wanted to "mend him" and "heal the little scared boy in his heart."
Porizkova framed their attraction as complementary: she said she sought to be loved by someone who resembled her parents, while Ocasek sought to be adored by someone of public value "who would make him look good." "It was selfish kind of love for both of us," she wrote. "But it worked beautifully for a long time. I like to think of it as our childhood scars being placed in such a way on our bodies, that when we embraced, they fit perfectly. Today, I will be grateful for all the years we embraced in a perfect fit - whatever the reasons."
Porizkova first met Ocasek in 1984, when she was 19 and he cast her in the Cars' music video for "Drive." At the time, Ocasek was married to his second wife, Suzanne LaPointe; the couple divorced in 1988. Porizkova has recounted in earlier interviews that she conformed to Ocasek's wishes early in their relationship because she feared losing his love, a dynamic she said began to falter when she stopped complying.
The couple's marriage effectively ended in 2017. Ocasek died in 2019 at age 75 of natural causes at the couple's Gramercy Park townhouse. Porizkova later said she learned she had been removed from Ocasek's will three weeks after discovering his body. She described the omission as "shocking [and] heartbreaking," calling it a "betrayal of my trust and my love." Porizkova reached a settlement with Ocasek's estate in 2021 and said she received a third of his estate under New York state law; the settlement amount was not disclosed.
Porizkova and Ocasek were parents to two sons, Jonathan Raven Ocasek and Oliver Orion Ocasek. Reporting on the estate noted that Ocasek did not disinherit those two children. The musician had also disinherited two older sons from a previous marriage, according to published accounts.
Since Ocasek's death, Porizkova, an Estée Lauder brand ambassador and Zara spokesmodel, has been publicly linked to others. She had a brief relationship with writer and producer Aaron Sorkin in 2021. She began dating television writer-director and producer Jeff Greenstein in 2023; on July 9 Porizkova announced her engagement to the 61-year-old Emmy winner. Greenstein's credits include sitcoms such as Extended Family, Friends, Will & Grace and Desperate Housewives, and he co-hosts a podcast called I Dream of Cameras.
Porizkova's Instagram post comes six years after Ocasek's death and follows a public legal and personal aftermath that included the contested estate and settlement. Her remarks revisit the private dynamics of a long partnership at the intersection of personal care, creative life and public personas, and reflect on the complexities she described as underpinning a relationship that lasted decades.