Paulina Porizkova isn’t your typical supermodel. Here, the cerebral Czech-born stunner says Vulcans make her hot, fumes about Kristi Yamaguchi’s presence on Dancing with the Stars and says she stopped looking at the SI Swimsuit issue ever since they put Beyonce on the cover.
SI Swimsuit Cover Models
See some of the memorable models who have been featured on the cover of the SI Swimsuit edition
Paulina Porizkova helped turn the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition into a cultural phenomenon when she graced back-to-back covers of the magazine in the mid-1980s. Click through to see some of the other memorable models who have been featured on the cover.
Sports Illustrated
2008 - Marisa Miller
Not only was Miller featured on the cover of the 2008 edition, she's also known as a Victoria's Secret Angel. Miller has also done cameos for TV shows such as "Entourage" and "How I Met Your Mother".
John Shearer, WireImage.com
2007 - Beyonce Knowles
Beyonce appeared on the 2007 cover with an inset of Israeli model Bar Refaeli. She holds the distinction as the first non-model and non-athlete to pose for the cover, and the second African-American model after Tyra Banks.
Charley Gallay, Getty Images
2006 - All-Star Past
The special edition featured an assortment of great cover models including, from left, Rachel Hunter, Veronica Varekova, Yamila Diaz-Rahi, Daniela Pestova and Elsa Benitez. It was also Elle Macpherson's record 5th cover.
Louis Lanzano, AP
2005 - Carolyn Murphy
The American model was featured on the cover with an inset of Jessica White, Marisa Miller and Yamila Diaz. In July 2007, Forbes magazine named her sixth on the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.
Peter Kramer, Getty Images
2004 - Veronica Varekova
Varekova appeared on the cover of the 40th anniversary edition with an inset of tennis knockout Anna Kournikova. She's been in the swimsuit edition a total of eight times from 1999-2002 and 2004-2007.
Peter Kramer, Getty Images
2002 - Yamila Diaz-Rahi
The Argentine model posed in Mexico for the 2002 cover edition, and moved on to appear on the cover of other magazines such as GQ, Glamour, Maxim, Elle and Shape.
Doug Kanter, AFP / Getty Images
2001 - Elisa Benitez
The Mexican model, who was previously married to former NBA star Rony Seikaly, posed for the 2001 cover in Tunisia. She has appeared in the swimsuit edition five times since her debut in the magazine.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
1995, 2000, and 2006 - Daniela Pestova
Pestova, who appeared on the cover three times, has also posed for GQ, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and ELLE. She's reportedly been dubbed "The Chameleon" for continuously changing her look.
Ron Galella, WireImage.com
1999 - Rebecca Romijn
The American film and television actress is also a former fashion model who is a fixture on annual lists of the world's most beautiful women by publications such as Maxim and FHM.
Kevin Winter, Getty Images
DAVE HOLLANDER: When Tyra Banks asked you to be a judge on America’s Next Top Model you told her, "Remember that I'm the girl who officially hates modeling?" Do you still feel that way?
PAULINA PORIZKOVA: What, you think I would have changed my mind since I went on the show? That would be pretty lame. Yeah, of course I feel that way. I think it’s a dumb job.
DH: You had remarked that the current crop of contestants is not interested in modeling for the sake of fashion. What are they interested in?
PP: You know what, I’m not entirely sure because it’s not like I got to actually sit down and talk to each and every single one of them about what their dreams and aspirations are. Although, honestly, I would’ve loved to. It’s merely that at one point – there were seven of them left -- I asked, "How many of you are here because you love fashion so much?" And not a single one raised their hand. So that, to me, was fairly significant. There were a couple of girls, I know, were in there because they didn’t get much love in their young lives they would like some approval now – a little seal of approval – which of course makes me feel all tender-hearted. But, I think basically most of them are in there for the same thing. I mean, getting to be a model is sort of like a seal of approval. It’s like a stamp on your forehead.
DH: How does wanting a "seal of approval" make you a worse model?
PP: It doesn’t make you a worse model. It makes you a model. (laughing) If you don’t need that seal of approval, you probably wouldn’t think of going into modeling. If you were interested in fashion then you’d be a fashion designer.
DH: Linda Evangelista once famously said she wouldn’t wake up in the morning for less than 10 grand.
PP: Famous last words!
DH: You were making $10,000 a day long before she said that plus $6 million a year from Estee Lauder on top of that. What about the money? It’s good way for a girl to make a living, no?
PP: It’s a great way for a girl to make a living, and that’s exactly what justifies my staying in it even though I didn’t like it. Doesn’t that make perfect sense? You don’t really like your job but hey, the money and the benefits are really great. You’re not gonna move! You’re not going to go to a job that will pay you maybe a tenth – not even, a twentieth – of what you were making in that sucky job. I think that was a great incentive for me to do it for twenty years.
DH: Many of us would like that incentive.
PP: Absolutely! Man did I get lucky or what -- to have such an overpaid job?
DH: And you started early. You were the youngest ever at 19 to grace the cover of the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 1984 and then a second time in 1985.
PP: I was supposed to have a third one but then I did the cover of Life magazine and Sports Illustrated got pissed off and pulled my cover.
Paulina Porizkova Photos
Former SI swimsuit model sounds off on Beyonce, Kristi Yamaguchi and more in an interview with Dave Hollander.
Paulina Porizkova helped turn the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition into a cultural phenomenon when she graced back-to-back covers of the magazine in the mid-1980s.
Sports Illustrated
Porizkova, a judge of America's Next Top Model, says she hates modeling and that many of the contestants are doing it for an emotional seal of approval -- not for the love of fashion.
John Paul Filo, The CW
Seeing Beyonce on the the cover of an SI Swimsuit edition was the last straw for Porizkova, who says the issue has lost its innocence and has become such a "big production" over the years.
Sports Illustrated
Porizkova says that having Kristi Yamaguchi compete on Dancing With the Stars is "predictable and lame" in that it's not a stretch for her to go from phenomenal skater to ballroom dancer.
Kelsey McNeal, ABC
Stephen Colbert is "sex personified," according to Porizkova. Her idea of the perfect man during her formative years were Mr. Spock, Chopin, Julius Caesar and Charlie Chaplin.
Joseph Kaczmarek, AP
Porizkova says she doesn't find athletes to be naturally sexy, certainly not in the manner that she's attracted to "nerds that sit behind the computers."
James Devaney, WireImage.com
Musician Ric Ocasek, who said he thought Porizkova's calling in life was to be a librarian, and Porizkova have been married for 24 years.
Peter Kramer, Getty Images for Michon Schur
DH: Since then, how has that issue changed over the past twenty-some years?
PP: Oh gosh, it really has changed. Now when I look at it so much more self-aware. It’s very self-conscious now. When I did it, we did our own make-up, our own hair. We went to wherever we were asked to go. Julie Campbell was the person in charge of everything. And she’d say, “Okay, go out there and sun tan.” And we’d go out there and fry, sometimes we’d be a bit sunburned. Put on a little mascara and lip gloss and she’d give us a bikini that matched the sunset and that’d be it. Nowadays, it’s a big production. It’s stylists. It’s hairdressers. It’s make-up artists. Before it was like bathing suits or bikinis that you could actually swim in. Now that’s really not relevant anymore. It’s used to be sort of sweet cheesecake and now it (pauses) … jeeze I wish I had thought of a better metaphor …now it’s like crème Brule or haute cuisine.
DH: Would you say it’s better or worse than it was?
PP: I don’t think it’s better or worse. I think it’s merely different. Personally, I find that some of the charm of the old issues is gone. Because we were so squeaky clean and sort of innocent and didn’t have a ton of make-up. And everything wasn’t perfect in the picture and there was no (laughing) retouching. So what you got was what there was. Now it’s a fantasy just like everything else whereas before it used to be more real.
DH: On the fantasy tip, now they feature a lot of athletes, who are not models, and athlete’s wives. What’s that about?
PP: Hello computer re-touching. Thank you, Photoshop. Now you can put anybody in the magazine and on the cover and make them look fabulous.
DH: I don’t know if you saw this year’s issue but it displayed NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon’s wife in a bikini on all fours. I found that very strange. You?
PP: (laughing) That is very funny. Was it the issue with Beyonce on the cover?
DH: That was 2007.
PP: I can just tell you that once I saw Beyonce on [an SI Swimsuit] cover, I was like, “Okay, (bleep) it. I’m not ever looking that magazine again.”
DH: Why?
PP: I don’t know. It kind of sets off the same reaction in me as watching Kristi Yamaguchi on Dancing with the Stars. I’m like (sarcastically), “Okay, thank you very much, so the winner is?” It’s just sort of an unfair advantage and predictable and lame. I highly disagree with it. I know she had two clubbed feet when she was a child and I think it’s fantastic that she became a phenomenal figure skater after that, but to become a phenomenal ballroom dancer after becoming a phenomenal figure skater is not much of stretch.
DH: Are athletes naturally sexy?
PP: Not to me. To me, naturally sexy are the white nerds that sit behind the computers.
DH: You found Steve Colbert attractive.
PP: Oh, my god! He is, he is. He just is sex personified to me.
Cheerleaders perform during training for the beach volleyball events ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 7, 2008. (Carlos Barria, Reuters)
Carlos Barria, Reuter
Chinese cheerleaders perform at the break of the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team against the Russian National Team during the USA Basketball International Challenge exhibition game at the Qizhong Arena on August 3, 2008 in Shanghai, China. (MN Chan, Getty Images)
MN Chan, Getty Images
Cheerleaders dance during the men's preliminary round beach volleyball match between Russia and Italy at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 12, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (CHINA)
Reuters
Cheerleaders perform before the men's 69kg Group A weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 12, 2008. REUTERS/Yves Herman (CHINA)
Reuters
A man rides a bicycle past tribunes as Chinese cheerleaders wave flags at the rowing venue during the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
AP
Cheerleaders perform during a time out in a 2008 Beijing Olympics Women's preliminary match of Beach Volleyball at Beijing's Chaoyang Park on August 11, 2008. AFP PHOTO/THOMAS COEX (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Cheerleaders perform during a time out in a 2008 Beijing Olympic Women's preliminary match of Beach Volleyball at Beijing's Chaoyang Park Beach volleyball ground on August 11, 2008. AFP PHOTO/THOMAS COEX (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Cheerleaders perform during a time out in a Women's preliminary match of Beach Volleyball at Beijing's Chaoyang Park Beach volleyball ground, August 11, 2008. AFP PHOTO/THOMAS COEX (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
A cheerleader is thrown up the air while performing during half-time break at the men's pool MB hockey match between Australia and Canada at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 11, 2008. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne (CHINA)
Reuters
Cheerleaders perform during break of men's field hockey match between Pakistan and Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games on August 11, 2008. Great Britain won 4-2. AFP PHOTO/ AAMIR QURESHI (Photo credit should read /AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
DH: Help me out here. Define sexy?
PP: "Stephen Colbert!" Look, my idea of sexy – my ideal perfect man ever since I was a kid – would’ve have been Mr. Spock from Star Trek, Chopin, Julius Caesar, Charlie Chaplin. I got kind of close. I got the Vulcan look.
DH: Vulcan’s can be very passionate once the emotional side of them gets revved up.
PP: That to me is terribly appealing – the one that you can’t have. But trying to seduce them? Gosh that’d be fun.
DH: Your novel “A Model Summer” came out a year ago. It sounded very autobiographical to me. Were you trying to tell us about yourself or about the fashion industry or both?
PP: No, I wasn’t trying to say anything at all about myself. I was only trying to paint a real honest picture of what it’s like to be a model. What it’s like to be a very young teenager thrown in a world that’s really not all that conducive to teenagers. That’s all. Because I feel like there really hasn’t been a proper portrait of what it’s really like. This is what it feels like. We kind of know what it looks like – the teenage nymphs romping around the beaches wearing Victoria’s Secret. By the way, I think Victoria’s Secret now is more like what Sports Illustrated Swimsuit used to be. But does anybody really spend the time wondering what (pauses) … People just assume that because you’re beautiful, young and you have money that anything else in your life just has to great. And if it isn’t, well, so what? I’m sure it will be great tomorrow. Like all things that seem one way on the outside, it’s different on the inside. That’s what I wanted to tell. A very honest truth. Had I written a very autobiographical story it wouldn’t have been very truthful. First of all, it would’ve just been my truth. So my heroine in my book is a combination of everything I know, me being just a part of that.
DH: Your life has gone the it’s gone but you once said that your boyfriend thought your true calling was to be a librarian. Is it?
PP: Yeah my boyfriend, now my husband for 24 years and two weeks. If could’ve made close to the same amount of money I made in modeling in a library, man you would not be able to pry me away from there. I would’ve been so happy. My glasses and a bunch of moldy books. That’s what I like.
DH: Maybe you’re getting closer. Funny thing is, I saw you gracing the cover of the latest Learning Annex (http://www.learningannex.com/) brochure.
PP: Yeah, I know! Isn’t that funny? I’m going to be conducting some sort of Learning Annex lesson. (laughing) It was just cracking me up, because I guess they did it with Rachel Hunter and Naomi Campbell. And I read the things they were going to be talking about and it was like “How to Keep Your Razor Sharp Focus On What You Want.” and da-di-da-di-da-da. And I was thinking "That is just such compete and utter (nonsense)." And they wanted to write the same thing about me and I was like “Naaaaah” I’m not going to be talking about my “razor sharp focus” because I don’t have a razor sharp focus. So they’re like “What can you talk about?” And I’m like “Actually, not much but I can tell girls if they should be models or not.”
DH: And you make an excellent cover shot for Leaning Annex.
PP: There you go. That’s all that’s required.
Dave Hollander is the author of 52 WEEKS: Interviews with Champions! Info
at: www.davehollander.com
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