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40 ... And fighting fit
07 January 2004

For these feisty stars, letting themselves go just isn't an option... LAM finds out how Madonna, Demi, Sharon (heart of) Stone ­ and more! ­ stay slim and trim for the big screen

Ageing gracefully isn't a term much used in Hollywood. While hitting 40 should be a time of self acceptance, many of Tinseltown's older actresses are doing the exact opposite - pushing their bodies to physical extremes in a bid to keep up with the younger, thinner and less wrinkled competition.

From Michelle Pfeiffer to Kim Cattrall, these stars may be looking fab at 40 but it's not something that's coming easily to them. And their irrepressible desire to look youthful and slim may actually be doing their body some harm.

Melanie Griffiths is one such actress who is pushing herself to extremes.

The Working Girl's figure has undergone a dramatic transformation since she hooked up with sexy Spanish actor Antonio Banderas. Her skinny frame is a spectacular change from her 20s when addiction problems had left Melanie looking shapely but slightly bloated due to constant partying.

Now, at the age of 45, Melanie's skinnier than she's ever been. Some would blame it on the gruelling training she's been undergoing to prepare herself for the role of Roxie in the Broadway version of Chicago, but others argue there's a different story behind her drawn look. Melanie met the younger Banderas on the set of Too Much in 1996, an encounter which friends say coincided with Melanie's insecurities and obsession with her figure.

In a bid to keep hold of her husband, knowing full well he left his first wife Ana Leza in order to be with her, Melanie has gone into overdrive when it comes to keeping every morsel of fat off her slight frame.

And it's not helped by the fact Antonio fully encourages her to over exercise and obsess about her weight. She readily admits, "Why would he make me exercise for five hours a day and keep sending me to a plastic surgeon? He knows what I've become, old and ugly. I am working my butt off. I am working out very hard to stay fit but I don't presume myself to be beautiful." A friend says, "She wants to look good for her husband, understandably, but sometimes we wish she wouldn't take it too far."

The constant workouts and diets have aged the superstar beyond her years. Instead of a gracefully lined face, Melanie's complexion has taken on a gaunt appearance caused by years of abstinence. One onlooker says, "She looks really haggard whenever I see her. I'm not sure if it's because she's had too much work done on her face or whether there's just not enough fat there to pump out the wrinkles."

And Melanie's not the only actress finding they have to resort to extreme measures to keep working and attracting the men.

Demi Moore
Demi Moore rose to fame in the 1980s as one of the infamous Brat Pack. Her sultry dark looks set her apart from the other girls in the group and made her a superstar. And Demi's figure has never been anything short of stunning, when she was at the height of her fame with movies such as Ghost, her curvy yet slim figure meant she was constantly voted one of the sexiest women on the planet.

But with the release of Striptease in 1996 and GI Jane in 1997, Demi Moore revealed something else about herself - that she has the willpower of an ox and once she sets her mind to something she can achieve it without any hitch. Now, with her latest comeback, after taking a 6 year hiatus bringing up her children at her ranch in Idaho, Demi's looking even more youthful than she did in her heyday. Gone are her famous curves, instead, they've been replaced by skinny limbs as she tries to conform to the new Hollywood ideal of having a non fat body. But it's come at a price. The hugely ambitious star, who even managed to upstage the Charlie's Angels at the recent Full Throttle premiere, has spent a small fortune putting her and her bod back in the headlines.

Sources close to the actress claim she splashed out a whopping $380,000 last year on personal improvements. It's believed she had an operation to downsize her breast implants, liposuction on her stomach, buttocks and thighs, collagen for her lips and porcelain caps for her teeth.

And the costs to retain her new look keeps the figure rising steadily. She has now hired a nutritionist at a cost of $22,000, a $15,600 yoga instructor and a kickboxing coach at a cool $230,000.

But Demi's obsession with her weight doesn't stop there. She's been following the gruelling raw food diet, a plan which advocates eating unheated and unprocessed fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, keeping everything as organic and fresh as possible.

A friend says, "Her body is her fortune. She can't afford to let herself go if she wants to stay in show business. She's spent like crazy to keep that youthful figure, but when you consider the millions she's made that's nothing. She's magnificent. She has the body of a woman 20 years younger, thanks to exercise, good diet ­ ....and some plastic surgery."

Madonna
In her 20s, Madonna put on a few pounds. She had weighed a tiny 104 pounds at the age of 18 due to her love of ballet, but once she hit New York and the pop scene the wild lifestyle she adopted started to catch up with her. It was then that she went through her jogging stage. Rarely throughout the 80s and 90s was there a magazine which didn't feature a paparazzi picture of her running through Central Park.

But with the birth of her daughter, Lola, Madonna underwent a metamorphosis, dumping her strict cardio regime to focus her attention instead on yoga. Now the Material Girl's a full on Ashtunga yoga devotee - meaning she likes to put herself in the most awkward of positions in the hottest of temperatures so as to endure maximum sweat.

She says, "I practice Ashtunga yoga in real life. When I was pregnant, I began doing Hatha yoga, and then began doing the more difficult Ashtunga yoga after I had the baby, because I wanted to do something more visceral and physical."

But the principles of the regime, which can burn a huge amount of calories in a small amount of time, have left the once muscular Madge a shadow of herself. A friend says, "She practices every single day. It's more like a religion to her than an occasional exercise regime. Even her daughter Lola and Guy are in on the act. This is one incredibly focussed and fit family."

Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer starts every day with a work out. The actress, who once famously likened herself to a duck, takes her body image seriously now she's hit 45.

The constant cardiovascular workouts at the gym she's had installed in her Los Angeles home are Michelle's way of ensuring her Hollywood career doesn't dry up, especially now she's middle aged so in less demand in the movies.

But despite her determination to ensure her legs look as fab as they did when she was in her 20's, Pfeiffer insists she will never go the plastic surgery route. "Plastic surgery really scares me. Even Botox scares me." (Although American TV star Patricia Heaton claims Pfeiffer has gone under the knife, once admitting, "But I just interviewed the plastic surgeon that did Pfeiffer.")

Pfeiffer's also careful about the morsels of food she lets pass her lips. She tries to have a lunch of fresh fish and Caesar salad every single day. A tall order when all she really craves is bread. She admits, "If I can force myself to eat fish, I do, but I'm a carbohydrate person. Desserts don't do it for me, but I could live on bread."

All this plus Pilates classes and cardiovascular workouts, hockey on Rollerblades and jungle gym with her kids ... just to keep her body in tiptop condition.

But Pfeiffer insists getting older in Hollywood doesn't faze her and instead she's gracefully accepting the ageing process. She says, "What was I doing being so worried about being 40? You know what I think it was more about for me? I haven't worried about my age much since I became a parent. That biological clock was really setting off alarm bells. I think my perfectionism about everything has lightened up. I'm learning to not to torture myself."

But you wouldn't know it from recent pictures of the actress showing her at a weight far below doctors would consider the norm for a 45 year old. She adds, "I have a few more lines and things, but fortunately my husband likes old women!"

Kim Cattrall
For Kim Cattrall, being the only over-40 on a top rated sexy TV show carries quite a pressure with it. Originally hitting the big time as a sexy young twentysomething in Porkies she almost turned down the role of Samantha fearing she was too old to be sexy.

In the end she decided to take the part, and has spent the years working hard to keep her figure and face looking the best they can. While many less high profile ladies can accept a slowing metabolism and embrace the odd distinguishing wrinkle, keeping up with her more youthful Sex And The City co-stars has been a round-the-clock battle for Kim.

With rigorous workouts and a strict diet, the glamorous actress watches Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon pig out on macaroni and cheese, while she has to make do with a plate of organic vegetables. A sacrifice she feels is worth it, to help her character Samantha keep up with the younger ladies. She reveals, "I never thought I'd be playing this character at this age in my life. I thought I'd be playing somebody's mum. The other girls on the show are 10 years younger than I am so I have to get enough sleep and work out and watch what I eat. Just running around New York City is a good way to keep in shape."

Kim works out with a trainer at the bi-coastal celebrity gym, Sports Club New York and LA. Her regular program includes aerobic exercises, walking, biking and roller-blading to elevate the heart rate and increase metabolism; strength-training including push-ups and sit-ups and cardio workouts including weight training sessions.

She explains, "I like to exercise and I've always been very athletic. I ski and I have a very disciplined workout regime. I play tennis, I run and I like to do the treadmill. I do very light weights. When I'm working, I work out on my days off or when I have a half day. When I'm not working, I try to do at least 20 minutes a day of exercise."

But her secret weapon when it comes to her long, youthful limbs is Pilates - something she credits with not only keeping her trim but also improving her posture and helping her sleep.

When it comes to dieting, Kim's food intake is not only designed to keep her slim, but also to help combat ageing. Known as "The Facelift Diet", experts claim Dr Perricone's eating plan is actually better than any surgical facelift.

She reveals, "On location it's sometimes hard to find healthy food, but it gives me a lot more energy. Jeanie, the caterer, makes a plate for me so I don't have to go near [the carb-heavy food]. It's too much of a temptation!"

Sarah Jessica Parker says she and her other two cast mates are left to dig into the naughty, calorific buffet. She laughs, "I eat fish and steak and pork chops and ham and eggs and macaroni and cheese and chicken soup. Kristin Davis is more conscientious about her intake, but Cynthia Nixon and I will eat anything."

Sharon Stone
At 45 years old, Sharon Stone has learned the hard way that pushing your body to extremes, as you get older, can have catastrophic side effects.

While undoubtedly her Pilates lessons and dedication to running paid off physically, when two years ago, she almost lost her life to a sudden and unexpected brain aneurysm, experts coined an entire new term ­ The Sharon Stone Syndrome ­ to explain how extreme exercise could have been a possible cause.

Sharon was taken to hospital from her San Francisco home on Sept 29 2001. She was complaining of a headache, but it turned out to be a ruptured blood vessel near the base of her skull. She had described the cause of her brain haemorrhage as 'a case of the mysteries', but physicians are now linking it with exercise she did the previous day for a 4.8km charity race.

While there was no evidence that Stone went far beyond her normal routine before becoming ill, her routine was intensive:

She spent up to three hours a day with her personal trainer and had recently added a taxing new stretching system devised for dancers and Tae Bo, a form of aerobic martial arts, to her already strenuous Pilates routines.

It was also Sharon's near death experience ("I think I did die" she reveals) that finally made her re-evaluate her life and she cut down on a lot of her more extreme training.

But according to friends of the actress, her recent split from husband Phil Bronstein has reportedly put her back on the treadmill, looking out for a young beau. So it's back to the tough self-imposed schedule.

The friend says, "Sharon's getting a full-time trainer and putting herself on a strict diet. She's already cut her blonde hair spiky short to give her a more youthful look.

"She doesn't want to look frumpy or dumpy anymore - she wants to look as sexy and glamorous as Demi Moore."

Sharon's get-slim-quick eating plans in the past have focussed on the popular low-carb diets like The Zone and The Atkins diet, followed by fellow celebrities Jennifer Aniston and Geri Halliwell.

Heather Locklear
The West Wing actress has always had a body to die for, but in the past she's been well known in the industry as a real-life couch potato.

Blessed with a high metabolism and no desire to hit the gym, Heather Locklear's long been one of those annoying celebrities who does all the wrong things - but still looks fantastic. But age is finally catching up with this self-professed junk food addict and despite her lack of interest in eating healthily and working out round the clock, Heather's discovered that's exactly what she's having to do, to keep her figure looking as fantastic. She admits that ever since she hit 40 two years ago, her life has changed.

She says, "I'm just starting to be conscious of what I eat. And I have to exercise more often ­ which I guess you have to do as you get older. I work out with a trainer on the weights three times a week. I tried yoga, the kind where they heat the room to 90-whatever degrees. I could feel my insides getting cleaner, but I was like, I'm going to throw up."

But while her gym routine has stepped up, the chips-and-salsa girl still finds it hard to cut out all the bad food from her diet. Instead, she has a trade-off system. If she eats junk she pays herself back with an extra gym session.

"I just enjoy the food and then exercise if I need to in a week." A friend adds, "She's very disciplined. If she misses a day at the gym, she's sure to go the very next day. She won't let it hang over her and drag on...."

Source: LAM

http://www.lam-online.com/entertainment/film/features/story.jsp?story=478874