Paul Sculfor was one of the world’s leading male models in the late Nineties and early Noughties, racking up a huge list of enviable A-list connections.
Paul, now 54, burst on to the scene at the age of 21 when he was secretly entered into Select Model Management’s model of the year compeтιтion by his mother.
Then in his early 20s, Paul relocated to Los Angeles and seemingly had it all as he embraced the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, kicking off his new celebrity lifestyle.
During his stint in the spotlight, he had a string of very high-profile relationships which only propelled him even further into the global glare.
He enjoyed a whirlwind five-month romance with Jennifer Aniston and dated Cameron Diaz and Lisa Snowdon, with fans having an eager interest in his star-studded love life.
However, there was a darker side to his prosperous modelling career it led him into a dark spiral of drug and alcohol addiction that ended in a breakdown and him quitting Hollywood altogether.
Paul Sculfor (pictured in June 2022) was one of the world’s leading male models in the late Nineties and early Noughties, racking up a huge list of enviable A-list connections
During his stint in the spotlight, he had a string of very high-profile relationships including with Cameron Diaz (both pictured in December 2008)
Paul was left suicidal amid his harrowing struggles and spent six months at the Priory rehabilitation centre, known for treating celebrities including Kate Moss, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams.
Now sober, the former face of Louis Vuitton and Versace lives a quiet life in East London with his wife, nutritionist Dr Federica Amati, and their two daughters aged four and seven.
Speaking on a new episode of his podcast, This is Powerful, Paul told how becoming a father saved him from his spiral into depression because it gave him ‘purpose’.
‘They keep me in check. It’s given me a purpose. I wanted to have a family when I was a young man, and then I decided I didn’t want to have a family, and I’m really glad I waited,’ Paul explained.
‘My first daughter was born when I was 47 and I’m really grateful for the journey I’ve had. It allowed me, when I was single, to really work on myself and discover myself and what I need and what works and doesn’t work.
‘Being a father has actually infused me with real purpose. You don’t have time to think about yourself when you’ve got kids because they’re the priority: they need to eat, they need to get up, they need to get dressed for school. To be honest, I find it my saviour.’
But it has not been an easy journey for Paul as he bravely admitted that he did suffer an unexpected bout of ‘darkness’ when his second child was born.
‘I had a bit of a dark moment’, he confessed. ‘We were in the hospital, we drove her home, and I remember looking out the back window and I held her.
Paul (pictured in 2008), now 54, burst on to the scene at the age of 21 when he was secretly entered into a modelling compeтιтion and rose into the limelight with a celebrity life in LA
‘It was in Covid, the news was rubbish, I wasn’t going out, my circle had gone from being in person to online, and I remember holding her looking out the window I apologised to her.
‘I had water coming out my eyes, and I said, ”I’m so sorry for bringing you into this world”. And I had this real feel of heavy darkness.
‘I was like: ”whoa, you better snap out of that!” And I had to really pull myself out of it because it wasn’t a safe feeling.
‘I phoned a friend and explained to him what happened. We had a conversation and it took me out of it. I remembered: ”You’re the dad. Look after them”. And that was it.’
After battling addiction, Paul revealed he recently started seeing a therapist again to help him cope with the challenges of life, as well as keeping to his 12-step program.
‘Things come up in life. I don’t have a therapist all the time, but something’s come up that’s bothered me so I wanted to see a therapist,’ he explained.
‘I still go to the 12-step meetings. I have about ten guys – we all got sober around the same time within a two-year period – and we’ve stayed together. We have a history with each other from 2004 that we share.
‘So I do that practice, I do mindful practice with my martial art as well. I have those fundamentals.’
He famously dated Lisa Snowdon when they were both at the heights of their modelling careers, enjoying a two-year romance from 1996 until 1999 (pictured in April 1997)
Despite his life-long mental health struggles, Paul is determined to see the silver lining as he reflected on how ‘dark’ his life became during the height of his fame.
‘The darker you go, the lighter you can go,’ he shared. ‘I feel like my life went very dark, so now I like to sit on the lighter side.
‘And I’m kind of grateful for going there because it gives the opposite reflection of where I am now. I know where I don’t want to be.’
After his struggles with addiction and depression, Paul shunned the glitz and glamour of fame and settled down with his wife Federica, tying the knot in 2016.
But in the midst of his modelling heyday, he was better known for winning the modelling compeтιтion ‘The Face of 92’, working with Louis Vuitton and Versace, and dating Hollywood megastars.
He famously dated Lisa Snowdon when they were both at the heights of their modelling careers, enjoying a two-year romance from 1996 until 1999.
The first high-profile relationship for either stars, they were frequently spotted on each other’s arms at many public events, before their eventual split.
Paul then went on to have a five-month whirlwind fling with Friends star Jennifer Aniston, which saw him garner much public attention.
He most famously dated actress Cameron (both pictured in September 2008) for one year from 2008 and 2009, with Paul telling how he didn’t want to be ‘tied down’
He most famously dated actress Cameron for one year from 2008 and 2009, with their cosy outings making headlines at the time.
Showing off their relationship status, Paul briefly lived with the actress at her LA home.
However, they later went their separate ways and their busy careers and distance were blamed for their split, though Paul himself spoke about not wanting to be ‘tied down’/
Shortly after their break-up, he said: ‘I love being single. It was my choice to be single.
‘It’s great to be on my own – you don’t want to be tied down, do you? I like being single, and I don’t want it any other way right now.’
In the years since, Paul has discussed the ‘intense’ and ‘silly’ attention he received from the high-profile romances, which threw him into entirely new levels of fame.
While life in the spotlight was certainly glamorous, Paul confessed he started to fall victim to addiction and had ‘many’ conversations with his romantic partners about his partying.
He told the Sunday Times Style: ‘There were private jets, yachts, penthouses, mansions in Beverly Hills, incredibly beautiful women, incredible experiences all the time ? It was fantastic!…
He remains friends with his ex-girlfriend Lisa Snowden and recently showed support for her by attending her VIP book launch Just Getting Started in 2023
‘I was trying to gain connections but I was making fair-weather friends. Things got very dark. I was always ill, I developed social anxiety, shut myself off from my family…
‘I turned down jobs because I couldn’t be bothered ? Very unlike me. My outlook on life changed from being excited to pretty much suicidal. I didn’t want to be myself any more.’
Paul admitted he didn’t initially realise he had a problem with alcohol and drugs because he was being given free VIP opportunities with his fame and partying with other stars.
‘I would be given free tables in clubs and put on VIP lists, for a young guy in his 20s, this was incredible, but it also involved drinking and drugs,’ he told The Telegraph.
He said he thought it was ‘normal’ to drink an entire bottle of champagne while out for lunch by himself on his days off, before recalling how he became ‘selfish’ because of his addictions.
Paul recalled one occasion when he was partying in the Mediterranean while on holiday and sprinkled ecstasy into his cornflakes, which led to his hospitalisation.
‘I remember being on a yacht in the Mediterranean on a holiday and sprinkling drugs – what I thought was ecstasy – in my coffee and onto my cornflakes,’ he shared.
‘It seemed like a perfectly normal idea at the time, but I ended up being hospitalised after collapsing on a flight back to New York that night.
‘I promised I would stop taking drugs but I only lasted two months.’
His hair even started to fall out because of his cocaine abuse while he also shut himself off from his family, made fair-weather friends and suffered with anxiety.
By the time he turned 29, Paul realised he had descended into a very dark place and said he felt he wasn’t in ‘control’ of his life anymore, and finally sought out help when he hit rock bottom at the age of 33.
He spent six months in The Priory in London to battle his drug problem and then committed himself to giving up drunks and alcohol and getting sober.
Now, Paul has completely changed his life, and has settled down away from the spotlight with his wife, nutritionist Federica Amati (pictured in February 2022)
Despite fame luring him into a life of partying, Paul insisted he does not blame the modelling and believes he would have struggled with addiction no matter what his job was.
Addiction runs in Paul’s family, with his grandfather having his own struggles with alcohol and gambling during his life.
Now, Paul has completely changed his life, and is a trained mindset coach working with young men with similar issues to his own, including drink and drug addiction.
He also runs Stride Foundation – a charity centered around education on addiction and financial support for those needing help with access to rehab facilities.
If you have been affected by this story, contact the Samaritans, call 116 123 or email [email protected].
