Paulina Porizkova Felt ‘Objectified’ Early in Her Career: ‘I Didn’t Have a Say in How I Was Portrayed’

Paulina Porizkova developed a sense of freedom while shooting her early Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue photos.

In the new documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, Porizkova recalls the impact Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and its founding editor, Jule Campbell, had on her career. 

The documentary, which premiered Nov. 17 at the DOC NYC film festival, details Campbell’s work for the outlet and how the late editor, who died in 2022, helped cultivate the careers of several young models, including Cheryl Tiegs, Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Elle Macpherson and Porizkova, 59.

Notably, when Porizkova appeared in the 1982 issue at 17 years old, she was topless on a Jamaican beach. She appeared in six more issues and graced back-to-back covers in 1984 and 1985.

But when Porizkova was first offered the opportunity, she almost declined, believing she would be featured in tennis clothes. Even after accepting the job, Porizkova’s photo shoot almost never came to fruition. The young model arrived in Jamaica wearing a white T-shirt that read “Too Drunk to F—,” which nearly caused her to be sent home.

Photographer Walter Iooss Jr. advised her to take it off before Campbell saw her. Porizkova obliged, ultimately leading to “one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken,” he says.

For the photo, she tied her hair with her bikini top and then artfully covered her breasts as she sported a bright green and red bikini bottom. “It was my idea to tie my hair with my bra because I was always running around topless. And then Jule was like, ‘Hey, why don’t we do a shot of that?’ ” Porizkova recalls. “This is the girl I was then.” 

“This is what Jule taught me: When you have a bikini on, all you have to do is embrace your body and who you are,” she says. “There’s such a sense of freedom to that.”

Porizkova also remarks on how the Swimsuit Issue’s approach has evolved. “It’s so funny because the shots are so much less overt,” she says as she flips through the Swimsuit Issue’s 1986 calendar. “They’re so much less sexually explicit or whatever it is these days.”

“But this is where we get to how times have changed. We have, I think, evolved as a society,” she adds. “Things that were absolutely normal and acceptable 40 years ago no longer are.”

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The supermodel continues by speaking about her personal experience early in her career. “When I felt objectified, it was because I didn’t have a say in how I was portrayed.”

“Now, when I put myself out in a bikini or nothing, that’s my choice,” she says. “To me, it’s objectification or celebration. Can it be both at the same time? I don’t see why not.”

“We have been taught that our bodies are valuable if they’re pretty,” she explains, adding, “So then if you exhibit that body, you are ‘technically’ objectifying yourself. But you’re also celebrating yourself.” 

“We, as women, this is what we have been given as our powers, and then we are shamed for using them,” she concludes. “Women will be shamed for everything, won’t they?”

Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue is screening at DOC NYC Nov. 18 at 12:30 p.m. at Village East by Angelika and will be available to stream online Nov. 18 to Dec. 1. Tickets can be purchased here.