The sudden death of Ric Ocasek left the world stunned — especially his former wife, Paulina Porizkova. In the wake of her exs passing, the supermodel revealed how the Cars frontman peacefully passed on.
UPDATE (9/16/19, 6:07 p.m. ET): After Ric Ocasek passed away on Sept. 15, the musicians ex-wife, Paulina Porizkova, released a statement on behalf of the Ocasek family on Sept. 16. The Instagram message read, “Ric was at home recuperating very well after surgery. Our two sons, Jonathan and Oliver, and I were making sure he was comfortable, ordering food and watching TV together. I found him still asleep when bringing his Sunday morning coffee. I touched his cheek to rouse him. It was then I realized that during the night he had peacefully passed on. We appreciate the great outpouring of love. We, his family and friends, are completely and utterly devastated by his untimely and unexpected death and would appreciate the privacy to mourn in private.”
Rics official cause of death was also listed as “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease [atherosclerosis],” with emphysema playing a contributing role, according to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, per NBC News. Atherosclerosis is a build-up of plaque inside arteries, while emphysema is a lung condition in which the air sacs are damaged.
ORIGINAL: “Thank you.” That was all Paulina Porizkova, 54, wrote when captioning her Sept. 16 Instagram post. It was her first statement since her former husband, Ric Ocasek, 75, passed away the day prior. The supermodel shared a picture of the flowers fans left outside the Manhattan home they shared. Some even paid honored to The Cars frontman by leaving some toy cars next to a memorial candle. Paulina only wrote two words, but they were all she needed to express the level of grief over this loss and the level of gratitude for those fans sharing her pain.
Paulina was reportedly the one who found the Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer unconscious and unresponsive in his NYC townhouse around 4:00 PM ET on Sept. 15. The police say they received a call around that time about an unconscious male at a location on East 19th Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Paulina and Ric met on the set of The Cars music video for “Drive” in 1984. They were wed in 1989 and had two sons together – Jonathan, 25, and Oliver, 21 — but announced in 2018 that they had been “peacefully separated” for the past year.
“Our family always has been – and still is – a well-built car. When the four of us are together, we can go wherever the road takes us. But, as a bicycle, my husband and I no longer pedal in unison. So, were ditching the bicycle,” she said when
