Paulina Porizkova Net Worth

What is Paulina Porizkova's net worth?

Paulina Porizkova is a Czech-American model and actress who has a net worth of $10 million. Unfortunately, after the death of her longtime husband, Ric Ocasek, it was revealed that Paulina had been cut from the musician's will after his 2019 death. She reportedly was forced to borrow money from friends in the immediate wake of Ric's death because she had so few liquid assets.

According to his will, Ric claimed Paulina had abandoned him and therefore cut her out of receiving a share of his personal assets, like $5 million worth of copyrighted intellectual property. Many people assumed that Ric was the wealthier of the two, but at one point, Paulina was one of the highest-paid models in the early 90s, earning tens of millions of dollars in a given year at her peak.

Paulina would later reveal that when Ric died, he left her with two mortgages and a pension but no other assets or income to pay the monthly bills. She ultimately was forced to sell the NYC townhouse where they lived for 30+ years for $10 million. She continues to own a home in upstate New York.

Paulina Porizkova Estee Lauder Earnings

In 1988, Paulina signed a contract with Estée Lauder that paid her $6 million per year through 1995. In total, she earned $42 million before taxes from that one contract alone. This would be the same as earning around $80 million today after adjusting for inflation to today's dollars.

(Photo by Georg Wendt/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Early Life

Paulina Porizkova was born in Prostejov, Czech Republic, and spent much of her early childhood separated from her parents. They fled Czechoslovakia during the Warsaw Pact invasion, leaving her in the care of her grandmother. For seven years the government refused to grant permission for her to leave the country, creating an international custody dispute that gained widespread attention until she was finally allowed to reunite with her parents.

Porizkova later settled in Sweden, where she spent her adolescence and eventually entered the modeling world as a teenager after being discovered by a local modeling agency. The opportunity marked the beginning of a rapid ascent in the fashion industry and set the stage for the high-profile modeling career that followed.

Modeling Career

Paulina Porizkova became one of the most recognizable and highest-paid fashion models of the 1980s and 1990s. She entered the industry as a teenager after being scouted in Sweden, and her rise was almost immediate. By her late teens she was appearing on the covers of major fashion magazines, quickly becoming a favorite of editors, photographers, and luxury brands. Her striking features and camera presence made her a regular across international editions of "Vogue," "Elle," "Cosmopolitan," and "Glamour," and she became one of the earliest European models to successfully cross into the American market.

Her prominence grew even further when she appeared in the "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit Issue, including a celebrated 1984 spread that substantially boosted her global visibility. Porizkova became widely known for her versatility, able to move between high fashion editorials, commercial campaigns, and high-profile runway work at a time when models were rarely able to dominate all three.

In 1988, Porizkova reached a new level of industry superstardom when she signed an exclusive contract with Estée Lauder. The deal reportedly paid her $6 million per year, making her one of the highest-earning models in the world. Running through 1995, the contract ultimately paid her $42 million before taxes, the equivalent of roughly $80 million in today's dollars. Her campaigns with the brand became some of the most recognizable beauty advertisements of the decade and contributed significantly to the shift in models becoming household names.

As her modeling career continued, Porizkova expanded into acting, writing, and public commentary on the fashion industry, but her legacy remains rooted in her status as one of the defining supermodels of her era.

Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Personal Life

Paulina Porizkova married rock star Ric Ocasek in 1989. She was 24 years old. They met in 1984 when she was 19 years old after she had been hired to appear in a music video for The Cars' song "Drive." Ric was married at the time. He divorced in 1988 and married Paulina in 1989. Ric and Paulina were legally married up until his death in 2019, though they had been "peacefully separated" since May 2018. Ric Ocasek died on September 15, 2019, at the age of 75.

Real Estate

In 1989, Ric and Paulina paid $2.5 million for a 6,000-square-foot townhouse in New York City. They listed the townhouse for sale in January 2019 for $15.3 million. Paulina ultimately accepted $10 million for the property after Ric's passing.

They also co-owned a 5.5-acre country property 90 miles north of NYC in the town of Millbrook, New York, which they bought in 1997 for $650,000. Paulina continues to own this property.

Who's Richer?

Paulina
Porizkova

Compare!

Ric
Ocasek