Paulina Porizkova Revealed An Ex Thought She Had A ‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder’

Model Paulina Porizkova was famously married to the lead singer of The Cars, Ric Ocasek. The two tied the knot on August 23, 1989, and shared two sons. However, in May 2018, the “Anna” actress revealed that the pair had split up a year earlier.

In September 2019, Ric Ocasek passed away suddenly after undergoing surgery. Paulina and their sons were famously disinherited from his will shortly before he passed and their legal dispute with his estate did not end until 2021.

That same year, Paulina briefly dated Oscar-award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, although their relationship didn’t last for long. The author of “No Filter: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful” wanted to make it clear that she wasn’t talking about Sorkin when she described an ex that believed she suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

In her latest Instagram post shared on Thursday afternoon, the 57-year-old fashion model described mental health as a “serious issue” and that any diagnosis should be left up to someone with medical training.

To begin her discussion on narcissism, Paulina shared a screenshot from a 2015 article on GoodTherapy called “Idealize, Devalue, Discard: The Dizzying Cycle of Narcissism” by Andrea Schneider. “Idealize, devalue, discard,” Paulina repeated in the caption. “The progress of emotions of a narcissist in a relationship. And spot on description of a man I had fallen in love with some years ago.”

She was quick to clarify that she was not talking about the “celebrated and brilliant screenwriter,” Aaron Sorkin, although she did not name him in her length caption. “Reading this, I felt the pieces fall into place. Aha, I thought. This makes perfect sense! And boom- relief. I was absolved. It wasn’t me. It was HIM!”

“The word Narcissist gets flung around a lot these days,” she continued. “In fact, the same man diagnosed me with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He was good at diagnosing his ex’s. In this, he wasn’t alone. I’d say no less than seventy percent of the men I’ve gone on dates with told me with great earnestness that their wives had Borderline Personality Disorder. As diagnosed by them. Not a doctor.”

“Likewise, and interestingly, a lot of women I know, declared their ex’s as having Narcissistic Disorder,” she continued, reminding her followers that “Mental disorders are a serious issue. They can be devastating to both those who suffer from them and those who love them. Just because it feels incredibly rewarding that we’re not the crazy ones doesn’t give us the right to label others.”

“We should be very careful in diagnosing one another with mental disorders. It ought to be left to the professionals instead of often using it as an excuse for our failure to take responsibility for our own shortcomings. And that includes me,” she concluded, wrapping up her post with the hashtags #narcissism, #overused, and #youarenotadoctorunlessyouare.

"So true. It is an excellent thing that mental health is being talked about more than 5-10 years ago, but people easily get into the trap of feeling like they know everything just because they read a few articles or popular psychology books," one fan commented. "It is far more complex than that. And narcissism may be one of the most complex diagnoses to recognize and treat (if it can be treated at all)."

"More than often they manipulate and hurt persons around them for way too long before those persons realize what is going on," they continued, before addressing their comment to Paulina directly. "I am so sorry you had to go through that and I am incredibly proud of you for rising up and learning from that experience."

Another follower commented, "This is great advice- leave it to the professionals! If you are concerned about experiencing narcissistic abuse please reach out to national hotlines, counseling, doctors, and other means of diagnostic professional support."

Another follower asked, “Paulina, why can’t we all just ‘be’ without labels? Does society need us to have these?” Paulina replied, “So it seems.”

Interested in more of Paulina Porizkova's words of wisdom? Only one day before, she talked about the "benefits" of aging in another Instagram post that can be read here.