>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. kristen: hi there. i am kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers," on abc 7. everyday, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area, and we get answers for you in real-time. , someone is coming to the bay area next month to talk about how being disinherited and discarded by her ex-husband allowed her rebirth. i talked to her one-on-one, and we have the conversation. also, since the ourrtve ongnif n pills. now, a case out of texas may result in some of those pills becoming inaccessible as well. we talked to a ucsf doctor about

the impacts. first, winter storms continue today, already seeing strong showers, hail, thunder, even some sunshine. during is now live is abc 7 weather anchor spencer christian with the latest. spencer, do we have more excitement ahead? spencer: [laughs] we do, kristen. let's take a look at live doppler 7 you can see we have widespread areas of stormy weather, but where it is stormy, it is pretty stormy. let's close in on his area of rather heavy rainfall, moderate rain from moving from vallejo all the way through american canyon and fairfield. look at this area, pretty intense downpours occurring right now. so now we will bounce to another location, down on the peninsula, where we had heavier rain than indicated right now by the dark

green in the area of redwood city and portola valley. that area of rain seems to be weakening at the moment, but it will be followed quickly by another cell. the snow continues to fall. right on s half moon bay area, we have prettyvy downpours,ea there h could instability here that you could see a lightning strike or two. a few seconds ago, i saw a lightning strike associated with it. let's take a look at the exclusive abc 7 storm impact scale. this is still a level 2 storm, although it is weakening. we may be downgrading it to a level 1 in the afternoon or early evening hours. right now, for the remainder of the day, we expect periods of showers, brief downpours, gusty wind, snow in the hills, isolated thunder and hail are possible. notice around 5:00 p.m., you see the snow becoming more widespread way up north around cloverdale. i do not think we will have much in the way of intense rainfall

at that point. later in the evening, notice how you see areas of rain forming offshore. they will start squeezing through the bay arear. onhtig.the rain that falls will. not be very widespread. . . we have gusts up to 25 miles an hour at novato,eay 30 at concord, so this will be the pattern for the next couple of hours. don't expect the system to start weakening significantly until later tonight. by the way, we still have a winter weather advisory effect until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow for the north bay,the east bay, and of course the mount hamilton area, snow levels dropping down to below 2000 feet, already snowing closer to 2000 feet, but there is a chance of accumulating snow, i mean, five inches or more, above read thousand feet -- 3000 feet.

that is how cold the storm is. a very unusual storm for us, and another one llwi follow tomorrow. another cold one, not quite precipitation associated with that one as will be another dayy weather tomorrow. kristen: thanks for the warning, spencer. i know we will see you later. she was the world's top from "sports illustrated" and beyond, she was the face of grace and beauty. but underneath the perfect life was a marriage on the rocks, a woman losing her sense of self. in her new book, good, the bad, and the beautiful,e wsh" sowhe nis is and why women over 50 are in fact in their prime.

i spoke to her today ahead of her events in the bay area next month your here is my conversation with model, actress, and writer paulina porizkova. nice to meet you. paulina: nice to meet you. kristen: i am super excited. i kind of grew up looking at you as this perfect human, and i think it is really touching for me to read this, your new book, "no filter: the good come of the beautiful," to see that not just the person on the outside, is it? we were stunned in 2019 when people realize for the first time that your marriage to ric ocasek and your whole life was not what we thought. talk about that. paulina: well, um, yes, things happen, but, you know, it was mostly

what was made public, where my husband basically disowned me, claiming that i had abandoned him, so he did not think i should get any part of his estate. and because it was made public, i felt like i had to come i suppose, retaliate, or at least, you know, put my voice out there, that that was absent lewdly not true, that was -- that was actually not true, that was a lie. and then something snowballed, you know, i had already talk about my grief and horrible this process was for me. dr. chin-h and then i just keptalng, i guess. [laughs]kr n:teis and then it ended up in this book, talking about your

marriage, your career, everything. first of all, i do want to give my condolences, because i know you still loved him, despite what happened at the end. how was that possible, i guess russ thinking, paulina, you had it all. you are making clearly good money as one of the world's top supermodels to how is it possible that, if he cut you out of the welcome of that maybe you were not going to be financially set? paulina: that is a tricky question, because we were still married at the time of his passing, so financially, i was actually ok. it is just that i had properties and pension plans that i could not touch until, you know, for another 10 years, so it left me sort of -- i had no cash flow with which to pay for anything, and that left me in a bit of a hole at the time. but, you know, i guess the bigger problem is me, as a young woman, falling madly in love

with this man, and just, you know, putting my soul into being a mother and a wife, then all my money going into a joint pot and never considering that things were not going to maybe work out the way i wanted them to. so i had no plan for what would happen if things did not work out, i just blindly trusted that he loved me as much as i loved him, and that we were going to be together forever. and when that, you know, we were in the processes of divorce when he passed, so it is not like i was entitled to getting the full estate anyway. but i just thought that the law, you know, the loss is the same thing as in divorce, you get half and half, right? it turns out the law does not say that, at least not in new york. kristen: yeah, and i think i wonder if in retrospect, you feel like you gave up too much control, both emotional and financially in the relationship? i think that is something a lot

of women might relate to. paulina: well, i hope they do come and i hope i can serve as a bit of a cautionary tale in this bause what i did is that i handed off the one's ability hterything on the other end, you know, rearing the children and taking care of the household and taking care of his family and my family was sort of an obvious -- meant that i would be, you know, that i was half of the marriage. and it is interesting that things do not necessarily work out that way by law, or in certain states, and so it was sort of an honest and naive mistake that i made because of somebody who fell in love at 19 and could not see that things don't always have happy endings. kristen: but she is still

forging her own happy ending tiered we have a lot more with supermodel paulina porizkova on you're the leader of many and pet wrangler, too. so becoming a student again might seem impossible. national university is here to support all of you. national university. supporting the whole you.

paper being crumpled more paper being crumpled music: “i wish” by skee-lo boom! sound of paper balls landing in bins office workers cheering music stops why do we shoot baskets with paper balls? for the same reason we play scratchers from the california lottery. because a little play can make your day. logo scratches on

kristen: we are back with mort my conversation today with supermodel paulina porizkova, who burst onto the stage with the first "sports illustrated" swimsuit cover. now about to turn 58, she proudly wears her hair with natural gray and embraces aging with open arms and she has a message for women and for critics who try to shame that they're here is my second part of the conversation with paulina. it is becoming a real role model, in terms of becoming body positive and developing competence, something that you

relayed in the book, which i was stunned to read, is that that was not always there in the marriage, and that he actually stopped showing interest, if you will come at a point, well before your divorce. having been the world's top cover girl, who graced countless magazine covers, to go to from that to wondering if your husband still finds you attractive, what was the impact on you? paulina: it was devastating. of course it was devastating, because, you know, that social invisibility that i talk about often, something that hits us older women when we start aging out of being, i guess, young and fertile, coincided with my husband's apparent loss of interest in me. and so it felt a little bit like i was being erased, you know, it was very hard to get a hang of the -- who i was, who i was

who i was then. that obviously i kinda felt like i was wandering the desert for a few years there, just sort of crying and screaming for somebody to see me or hear me, and there was nobody around. [laughs] kristen: i mean, like, if you have to wander through the desert like that, what about the rest of us? i wonder if you think, societally, teaching, have we gotten any better? i know when you first came out, you talked a lot about how the ideal picture-perfect woman is actually a girl. is that still the way it is? and if so, what do we do about that? paulina: well, i do think that it still the way it is. it is interesting to me that ageism, it is sort of like the last -ism that is still kind accessible. that was a little girl with don lemon, describing a woman not in her prime because she was in her 50's. it is still weirdly acceptable, although i think it is getting

to be less so, and for that, i am very grateful. and honestly, i think the thing -- the only thing we can do about it like us, knitting in the corner, as the place that has been assigned to us, but we go out there s how fabulous it is to be an older woman. embrace who you are, let people see that you embrace for you are, and let them see that this is not anything to be afraid of or to be dismissed. because we are in our hold power when we get into our 50's, possibly the best decade of your life, so don't miss out on it because other people tell you that you are no longer relevant. kristen: i love that! and i think now, i mean, i don't look like you, never have, but i do feel more confident about who i am, and i will stand up more

for the things that i believe in and all that is to be celebrated el wasigl, once i work out a little bit more, i might post a swimsuit picture like you have been doing as well. you look good, by the way. paulina: thank you. udoyou not that i post pictures of myself that don't look so great. i curate the pictures, but since i don't use filters, and that is sort of my thing, that's right, "no filter," i have to, you know, these pictures, so that i just have to pick out one as opposed to, like, 20. kristen: i'm pretty sure you don't have any that are bad, but i will take your word for it. how do you like 57 overall? i know the last few years were lyalregh r ric's

passing, and he wrote this book. where are you at now? paulina: i'm shortly to turn 58. i'm almost out of my 50's. i'm soon to be out of my 50's. and i have never felt stronger or better or more powerful or m i have not quite grown into this skin yet. i still feel like there is maybe -- i may have posted on instagram about how i feel a little bit like a sharp a shar-pei puppy sometimes, you know? [laughter] there's a little bit of excess skin that i have to grow into. i started growing so late, it was really after the death of my husband that i started finding out who i really was without him. kristen: you have a lot of catching up to do! paulina: exactly. kristen: time to make up for. paulina: so i am still catching up a little bit, but it is also -- it's just an incredible

feeling of being able to appreciate who you are and accept who you are that i have never felt before. i was always so concerned about what other people thought of me, and that's -- everybody says this, but when you get older -- kristen: yes, "don't care what you think of me, i'm good with me, thank you very much," right? paulina, i know you will take that message to the bay area next month or will be speaking at a few intimate gatherings with happy women. tickets, so for those who areng, what is paulina's message? paulina: those fantastic, because we get to meet all of these women face-to-face. kristen: i will be at one of them! paulina: it is amazing.

kristen: i can't wait to have this conversation. before we let you go, because i think our viewers will kill me if i let you go without asking this question, real quickly, beauty secrets, beauty routines, health, fitness, what do you think we should do, in our 50's? paulina: i think that we should do whatever makes us happy, and i really, truly stand behind back, because when you do something for yourself, it makes you feel good. you get more confidence, you radiate that confidence, and it shows. and really, ultimately, it is all about the confidence, it is not about the actual way you look, it is not about the actual lines on your face or the sunspots or whatever. if it bothers you, then do whatever you want to do about it. if it doesn't bother you, then go out there and shine the way you are. it is all about really -- i knoy ach ith

paulina post-covid, porizkova "no filter: the good, , the bad, and the beautiful," s. paina: so nice to meet you, too. kristen: important abortion pill for here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54 and was a smoker, but quit. what's my price? you caget vera$95 nt

i'm 65, retired, and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80 and i'm on a fixed income. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, lae thugha month for you too. the colonial penn prra starting at $9.95 a month. that's less than 35 cents a day. you cannot be turned down because of your health. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock so your rate can never go up for any reason. options start at $9.95 a month, plus you get a 30-day money back guarantee. so call now for free information and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction to your loved ones

with your final wishes. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. kristen: abortion rights advocates are bracing for decision any time now from a trump appointed federal judge in texas. if the judge rules as expected, it could off the market and abortion pill used by millions of american women. joining us live now is ucsf professor and public health scientist dr. ishma. thank you for joining if these appeals are the main option for millions of women, so

access to them is obviously a big deal. the pill in question here is one of two drugs used in a two drug regiment, right? dr. upadhyay: that is right. together, they are about 90% effective in ending a pregnancy. the combination of medications has it in over 99%. kristen: really quickly, what does the first one due, and does the second one do? dr w. upadhyay:hat the first sts the present -- pregnancy from growing, and the second causes uterine contractions that causes the uterine -- u contract and empty. kristen: in this legal case, the plaintiff, argues that it was approved two decades ago with a flawed fda process. can you tell us what you know about that? dr. upadhyay: sure. let me be clear, this case is

not based in any medical evidence. it is not based in any science, and it does not aim to protect women's health. mifepristone has for 20 years, and it is extremely safe. there's over 100 publi documenting its safety and its effectiveness. kristen: all right, so if it is taken off the market through this ruling, how long before it could get back on the market? i assume the argument is, the approval process, it would have to go through the process again? dr. upadhyay: yes. i think there are several ways it could play out. i think that it will disrupt access to this essential medication. i think it will harm patients who need to have an abortion, many, over 50% of all abortions are done through the abortion pill, and it will significantly disrupt access to this medication.

there is an alternative using the second medication alone. kristen: so if women only use the dr. upadhyay: effectiveness is about 93% to 81, clinics need time to adjust to and learn the protocols. number two, because its iexamplo get this abtion pill, they are facingan my me evideno

ta cns that might be traveling for abortion care. and i think it is going to come it is very safe and still highly effective, but i just think it will cause some disruption in abortion care. kristen: if the ruling is such that this has to be taken off the market, would it impact us here in california? obviously, surgical abortions are illegal here, and the state protects rights to an abortion, but still, women who are offered the medical abortion option, this would affect them, i assume you dr. upadhyay: yes -- i assume? dr. upadhyay: that is an excellent question. in california, as you suggested, california has a governor who is very supportive of reproductive health and women's health and abortion care. and so it could play out in several different ways in california. i think we will have to wait and

see what the legal authorities say about that. kristen: i understand that 12 states that are pro-abortion might actually file another lawsuit, saying that the fda has been too restrictive with the abortion pill. is this potentially ending up in front of the supreme court, with the competing laws, or i should say, legal cases and possible rulings that will conflict? dr. upadhyay: i will say that the medication abortion is already severely over restricted, highly overregulated. there are providers who offer this abortion pill, have to have a special certification. pharmacies who want to offer this abortion pill also have to have a special certification. kristen: thank you, dr. upadhyay. we have

tonight, the winter storm warnings up right now in the northeast. snow and dangerous winds and tornados on the ground in multiple states. one system moving into the northeast at this hour. those winter storm alerts from new york to boston. up to a foot of snow in some areas. also tonight a reported tornado in illinois. college students sheltering in place. a confirmed ef-2 touching down in norman, oklahoma. winds at least 1 10 miles an hour. ginger zee timing it out. what was the true origin of covid-19? the new report from the energy department tonight and what it finds and how it differs from other agencies. how the white house is responding and rachel scott at the white house. tonight the alex murdaugh trial accused of murdering his wife and son and today