Paulina Porizkova opens up about 'fear of abandonment' in vulnerable message to fans
Paulina Porizkova is getting candid about how her fear of abandonment has impacted her relationships.
On Friday, the 57-year-old model took to Instagram to share how she's inadvertently caused herself heartache by pushing people away.
"Here’s a recent realization: I keep being abandoned by the people I love. I’m not writing this to play a victim. In some of those cases it was circumstantial," she captioned a photo of her reflection in a mirror. "But it got me thinking about how one can set themselves up to perpetuate what they fear most."
Porizkova admitted that it wasn't until she reached her 50s that she started to acknowledge her own patterns and defence mechanisms in relationships.
"My fear of abandonment makes me alternatively cling, and then dismiss people I love. At the first hint of distance - I make damn sure I shut the door first so they can’t leave ME," Porizkova wrote. "And it took me all the way into my 50s to realize this."
"Getting older is so great, you can expand your heart and your brain if you allow it," she concluded.
Fans met her post with supportive messages thanking her for her transparency, and comments from those who found the message relatable.
"I do the same thing with people. If I sense they are going to leave, I leave them first," one Instagram user commented. "I didn't realize it till I was in my 50s either. Abandonment issues are very hard to cope with."
"So beautiful and so wise. Thank you for sharing. You are truly an inspiration. Beautiful inside and out," someone else wrote.
"I appreciate you sharing your pain and hard-earned wisdom!" added another.
"I love your openness and honesty!" one person echoed.
"Thank you for writing this. Expanding our capacity to love is something to certainly develop. I’m grateful I saw this today," another commented.
This isn't the first time that Porizkova has been vulnerable with her fans. In January, she shared a lengthy message to Instagram about how many women feel "invisible" as they get older.
"I believe our aging faces and bodies are not caving ceilings that need to be fixed," she wrote. "It’s only a different kind of beauty that is not quite accepted or seen. It’s the lushness of summer heading into the colour explosion of the fall."
"It's a different kind of beauty," she added. "One to be celebrated and embraced for its change. We all have personal preferences for the seasons, but it doesn’t negate the beauty of each. It's up to us, the sisterhood, to applaud one another until the rest catch up."
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