As the world’s first male supermodel, Paul Sculfor jetted around the world, drove fast cars and dated some of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses including Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz.
“We still message now and then,” he says of his famous exes as he joins hello! for this exclusive interview and photoshoot in London’s Epping Forest. “Obviously we’re all married and grown up now, so I just message like I message a lot of people – to say: ‘Hey, how are you doing? I hope everything’s fine.’ Friendly stuff.”
These days, the face that appeared on magazine covers, catwalks and billboards in the 1990s is every bit as handsome as it was. But Essex-born Paul’s life couldn’t be more different from those heady days, when his champagne lifestyle and addiction to alcohol and drugs threatened to derail him.
Now a mindset coach and father to two daughters aged seven and five, Paul, 54, uses his experience of addiction to help and educate others, through the charitable Stride Foundation he runs with Federica and his podcast, This is Powerful.
He says of Federica, whom he met on Valentine’s Day ten years ago: “She’s brought a lot of light, fun and stability to my life, as well as a beautiful partnership. She’s Italian, from Rome, and she’s an academic but she’s got this beautiful, natural, spiritual calm side to her. She’s just naturally a loving person who radiates kindness.
“I know we’re supposed to be together because we just work together. We have the same values, and we try and be good parents. Feds is academic and smart, so the schooling is left to her. I do a lot of adventure stuff with the girls.”
Paul tells how his addiction came to a head in 2004, and he spent six months in the Priory clinic.
“I was physically and mentally in a bad way,” he says. “I remember dropping to my knees in my hallway, and I heard a voice come out of myself and shout out: ‘I need help!’”
He moved to Los Angeles once he was sober, where he trained in acting and t’ai chi, and dated Jennifer for five months and Cameron for a year.
The Stride Foundation offers counselling and support services to recovering addicts and their families and has recently secured funding to expand pilot education programmes for schools.
“We’re putting together workshops for peer pressure and self-esteem, because a lot of how I got into trouble was peer pressure and a desire to belong,” says Paul.
On his podcast, Paul speaks to recovering addicts including Millie Mackintosh, Calum Best and Kevin Bishop, as well as therapists and scientists. “As a host, I try to create a safe space and use my own experience to make things accessible, because not everyone can afford to go to the Priory,” he says. “If I can just give one person something that will help them make a constructive decision for themselves, that’s our goal.”
He adds: “I thought success was material things – having a big house, a beautiful girl and a great car. When I got to a place beyond my expectations I thought I would feel whole, I thought I’d feel excited, I thought I’d feel complete. But in fact, I felt the opposite, because it hadn’t worked. It was just a profound moment of realisation that I’d been chasing something that’s not the answer.”
