Supermodel Paulina Porizkova’s House Burned Down After Landing ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover

Paulina Porizkova is looking back on a scary incident. In a new conversation with Deadspin, the supermodel recalled finding out she had landed the February 1984 cover of Sports Illustrated the same day her home burned down. 

“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,” Porizkova recounted. “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 then I lost everything I owned.” 

She continued, “I only had an overcoat, a dog and a cat and a passport. And I don’t even recall having underwear, actually.” 

From there, Porizkova, who was the first Central European woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, had to make her rounds to promote the mag — all while dealing with the aftermath of losing her home. 

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

Despite the shocking sequence of events, the 57-year-old model saw her life change overnight, cementing her supermodel status and making her a household name. 

“I did notice that sort of, overnight I had turned from ‘that model with the unpronounceable name to, Paulina Porizkova or Paulina Po — what’s your name?'” She said. “It attached a name to my face.” 

Reflecting on her younger years, Porizkova said it didn’t take much to get SI ready, but these days, a slim fit figure, as she stressed, “takes a lot of freaking work.” 

“I started modeling as a 15-year-old, and so well into my 20s I smoke, drank, did whatever the hell I wanted,” Porizkova recalled. “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. So, to still be in shape, to be slim, and all that — takes a lot of freaking work.” 

She continued, “So, this is exercising a lot, not eating very much. Taking care of my skin. Using a lot of SPFs, vitamins. Basically, the older you get, the more it takes to maintain. So, I spend more time maintaining my outer self than I’m actually happy with, but then 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.” 

“It’s a required amount of work for me to be able to do what I do,” Porizkova added.