Ric Ocasek And Paulina Porizkova Announce Split Weeks After Posing As Happy Couple At Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Ric Ocasek and Paula Porizkova have announced they have are ending their marriage after more than 30 years together. The Cars frontman and his supermodel wife, who were sometimes dubbed Beauty and the Beast in the press, quietly separated last year but somehow managed to keep the secret split from fans. Paulina Porizkova shared the surprising news on Instagram, just two weeks after the couple appeared happily together at The Cars’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Cleveland.

Porizkova, 53, shocked fans when she took to Instagram to share that she and Ocasek, 74, were no longer “pedaling in unison.” Paulina explained that the couple decided to ditch “the bicycle,” aka their marriage. The legendary Sports Illustrated cover model added that the family of four—herself, Ric, and their grown sons, Jonathan and Oliver—operate like a well-built car and would continue to be seen together in happy family photos because they are still a happy family.

“We are just no longer a couple,” Paulina wrote of herself and Ric. “The love we have for one another is so wide and deep it’s practically tangible, and that sort of love can never disappear.”

You can see Paulina Porizkova’s complete statement about the end of her marriage to Ric Ocasek below.

In a 2015 interview with Yahoo Beauty, Paulina Porizkova talked about the challenges of being in a high-profile marriage.

“It’s always challenging with two people with separate careers,” Paulina said.

“I know models and rock stars have a rep. It’s hard when you spend a lot of time apart. Sometimes you risk growing apart…I agree we did get lucky to find the right person, having the brains to know that it’s the right person, and to work on it and not let it fall apart when things aren’t easy.”

Indeed, Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova’s marriage was regarded as one of the most solid in the rock ‘n’ roll world. The couple often posed together with their sons, so no one suspected anything was amiss, especially when the family arrived together for The Cars’ long-overdue Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland in mid-April.

Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova met in 1984 on the set of the Cars’ video “Drive” music video. Ocasek promptly left his second wife, Suzanne, and began dating Paulina, finally tying the knot with her in 1989 in a ceremony held on the Caribbean island of St. Barts. At the time, Entertainment Weekly revealed that Paulina described her “perfect” man Ric as “a combination of Mr. Spock, David Bowie, Jesus Christ, and Chopin.”

You can see Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova where it all began, in The Cars’ “Drive” video, below.