Paying homage to the late frontman of The Cars, the former 'America's Next Top Model' judge additionally recounts the moment she discovered her estranged husband had died in his sleep.

• Oct 5, 2019

AceShowbiz - The Cars star Ric Ocasek's estranged wife Paulina Porizkova has paid tribute to the late rocker in a new Rolling Stone article.

The model found the "Drive" singer's body in the New York apartment they once shared last month, and now she has found the words for a moving tribute in the music bible, insisting few people got to know the real Ric.

"A lot of people found... him intimidating, which he could very much be," she writes. "As a person, he could be very aloof and sort of withdrawn. You could be intimidated by his height, thinness, black-clad persona, sunglasses, and all that, but he had an incredible gentleness about him when you got to know him. If he pushed his sunglasses onto the bridge of his nose and you saw his turquoise eyes, people would know. He had the most beautiful coloured eyes, which really surprised people because people often did not see his eyes".

"And when he looked at you and smiled, it was like, 'Oh, my God, he smiled at me! The sun came out. It's amazing!".

Paulina also reveals her late husband was a snappy dresser - even if he wasn't going anywhere, adding, "He would... get meticulously dressed like he was going to a photo session and go down to the basement and work all day, even if nobody was in the house. You wouldn't catch him dead in a pair of sweatpants".

She also claims he never fully recovered from the 2000 death of his songwriting partner and pal Benjamin Orr.

"That was a real hit for Ric," she explains. "He didn't want to speak of it. It was very hard for him. He wrote that song about Ben, 'Silver', and I think that was the only time I really heard him say how he felt about Ben. They were best friends at one point. Ben's passing really scared Ric".

Porizkova also clears up reports about Ocasek's death, insisting it was not related to any heart issues or his recent surgery, adding, "He was recuperating really well, so his passing was a f**king shock...".

"Yes, Ric did have emphysema, but it wasn't very bad; he didn't need oxygen. He was fine to walk around and do whatever he wanted. He did a lot of walking. And he had atrial fibrillation aggravated by emphysema. But he never had high blood pressure".

"Attributing it (his death) to some super general thing was kind of puzzling to us. We knew he had those issues, but they were all very moderate and manageable. He quit smoking 14 years ago. I don't exactly understand the postmortem, and I'm so super bummed and p**sed off that stuff like this is public knowledge. Thanks. So while we grieve, why don't you all take apart what my husband died of?".

Paulina also recalls the last time she spoke to Ric and the moment she discovered her husband had died in his sleep, while taking him coffee in bed.

"It was 10 in the morning, and I said, 'I'm going to peek in and make sure he's OK'. I thought he slept a little too long," she says. "He was getting up earlier after his surgery because of hospital protocol... So I peeked into the bedroom, and he was in a position he always slept in - on his back, mouth vaguely open. He would sometimes snore, and he always had one of his hands elegantly folded beneath his chin and his bathrobe next to him. I thought he was asleep".

"I did some chores and then it was 11, and I thought, 'This is weird, there's something not right about this'. I poured the coffee and came upstairs to give it to him and he was in the exact same position; he had'’t even moved a little bit. And at that point, I knew, but I couldn't believe it. I walked up to him and he still looked asleep. Except he was really, really still and his eyes were a little bit open. I thought he was waking up, actually".

"I touched his cheek and it was like touching marble. That was pretty f**king awful".

She called Ric's manager, who urged her to hold off calling for emergency services until the family had gathered to say goodbye: "I wanted Ric's sons to get here so we could all say goodbye to him. So we waited, and we got to circle the bed and hold hands and really say goodbye. We were here with his shape for many hours after his death. It was kind of wonderful because we all understood he was gone. He definitely left us. But the minute I called 911, literally two minutes (later), there were paparazzi at our house. That's just disgusting".