Paulina Porizkova recalls horrific moment her ‘house burned down to the GROUND’

Paulina Porizkova has opened up about how her ‘house burned down’ right after she learned she had landed her first Sports Illustrated cover. 

The Czech-born model, 57, was just 18 when she was launched to fame after landing the cover of the magazine’s iconic swimsuit issue in February 1984, but her moment of triumph was marred by the loss of all of her personal possessions. 

‘I was told that I got the Sports Illustrated cover — ’cause, you know, you didn’t know until the night before. It was [a] big, big secret thing,’ she explained during an interview with Deadspin.

‘They called, and they said, “Guess what? You got the Sports Illustrated cover.” And I think that night, or the night right after that, my house burned down to the ground, and I lost everything I owned.’ 

The Czech-born model was just 18 when she landed the cover of the magazine’s iconic swimsuit issue in February 1984 

After losing all of her possessions, she had to do a press tour to promote her Sports Illustrated cover, including an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (pictured) 

Porizkova recalled how she only had an overcoat, a dog, a cat, and her passport after the devastating house fire. 

‘I don’t recall even having underwear, actually,’ she said. 

Despite hardly having any possessions to her name, she had to do press to promote the magazine and pretend she couldn’t be happier. 

‘I had to go onto Johnny Carson and all these talk shows and be like, “Yay! Hi, I’m this Sports Illustrated vixen.” So, interesting balance there,’ she said. 

Porizkova, who was the first Central European woman to cover the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, shared how her fame reached new heights after the magazine dropped.  

‘I had turned from that model with the unpronounceable name to Paulina Porizkova,’ she explained. ‘It attached a name to my face.’

The model scored her second Sports Illustrated cover a year later in February 1985, and she most recently posed for the magazine in 2019. 

Porizkova, who was the first Central European woman to front the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, scored her second cover a year later in February 1985

Looking back at the start of her career, Porizkova admitted that she didn’t do much to get ready for a bikini shoot when she was younger

‘I smoke, drank, did whatever the hell I wanted. It was pretty easy. Life was pretty easy at that point,’ said Porizkova (pictured in 1985)

Porizkova admitted that she has to exercise a lot and not eat very much to maintain her appearance now that she is in her 50s 

Looking back at the start of her career, Porizkova admitted that she didn’t do much to get ready for a bikini shoot when she was younger.  

‘I started modeling as a 15-year-old, and so well into my 20s, I smoke, drank, did whatever the hell I wanted,’ she said. 

‘It was pretty easy. Life was pretty easy at that point. That’s the privilege of youth, that you can kind of do that stuff and get away with it. I can’t get away with it anymore

‘To still be in shape, to be slim, and all that takes a lot of freaking work. This is exercising a lot, not eating very much, taking care of my skin, using a lot of SPF, vitamins,’ she said. ‘Basically, the older you get, the more it takes to maintain.’

Porizkova, who recently covered Vogue Scandinavia, added that the amount of time she puts into her appearance is par for the course as a model.  

‘I spend more time maintaining my outer self than I’m actually happy with, but at the same time, I kind of have to because it’s still who I am, it’s still my job, it’s still what I identify as,’ she explained. 

‘It’s a required amount of work for me to be able to do what I do — kind of like an athlete. I gotta keep training.’