Jennifer Aniston ‘used to hate her wobbly butt’ and talks being super-fit at 50 in Harper’s Bazaar snap
JENNIFER ANISTON proves that age really is just a number by posing in a sexy photoshoot at 50.
It is 25 years since she first found fame in Friends and the stunning actress has never looked better thanks to daily workouts, a healthy diet and her beauty regime.
But Jennifer says the real key to looking good is happiness — and finally accepting she does not have to push herself as hard as she once did.
She says: “It’s hard work, you know. You work out, you just take care of yourself and you exercise. You eat right, you sleep, you’re happy.
“Happiness is the big key. My dad is 100 per cent Greek, he barely has a wrinkle. Neither did my grand- mother, who was 95 when she died. My life is a happy life. It’s a choice.”
Jennifer used to moan that her bum wobbled, saying it “has a tendency to go right and left and I’d like it to go up”.
But after hitting her half century, she has stopped putting so much pressure on herself and learned to love her body.
She says: “When we’re kids, we are constantly working out for smaller arms, a leaner butt, a flat tummy. Let it be. I can be a little soft.” It is serving her well.
Despite her age, she has no intention of slowing down — as proved by the pictures for the latest issue of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar US.
Later this year Jennifer will appear in two new Netflix productions.
Next month she will be seen alongside Adam Sandler in Murder Mystery, a movie about a New York couple who become suspects in an elderly billionaire’s death on holiday.
She is also playing a lesbian US President in comedy First Ladies.
Jennifer is worth around £154million thanks to her most famous role as Rachel in TV sitcom Friends and starring in more than 30 films.
Her working life is hectic but she keeps her mind and body in shape with daily yoga, boxing, cardio and meditation sessions.
She says: “I feel really beautiful when I finish a great workout.
“Because I’ve taken care of my body, my endorphins are going, my blood is pumping. I’m taking care of the one body I have.”
Jennifer keeps fit with her trainer, Leyon Azubuike, and he does not go easy on the actress. The star is a lifelong yoga fan but two years ago she and Leyon started boxing and she loves the “mental” part of it.
She says: “Leyon is my gentle giant and he calls me Champ.
“I never thought someone would be able to call me Champ and I would be OK. It’s the longest workout I’ve actually stayed with consistently, other than yoga.”
Jennifer noticed dramatic changes in her body when she started yoga but likes to “shake things up”.
In one interview she revealed: “I have a spin bike, an elliptical bike and a treadmill — and I do cardio for at least 20 minutes a day. Even that short burst makes a difference.
“Of course I take days off. It’s important to rest the body.
“I can go a whole week saying, ‘I’m not going to work out’. Your body will tell you what it needs.”
Jennifer takes the same healthy approach to diet. She says: “You kind of figure out at a certain age you have to cut some stuff out and get healthy — get with the programme.”
That means starting every day with lemon water and for six days of the week cutting out stodgy carbohydrates and focusing on organic fruit, vegetables and lean protein.
But on the seventh day it’s time for Jennifer to indulge.
She says: “I’ve learned how to make pasta and it’s not that bad for you.
“It’s just an egg, Parmesan cheese and a little pasta water. My not-so-healthy snack is chips (crisps) and guacamole with a margarita.”
Jennifer gives herself a facial every Sunday and says water, sleep and sunscreen are her top three anti-ageing tips.
She says: “This is the only body we’re given. We need to be really good and mindful of what we eat and how we take care of our skin.”
But while she has managed to find a healthy balance when it comes to diet and fitness, her love life has not run quite so smoothly.
It is 20 years since she stepped out with her first husband Brad Pitt and she ended her marriage to actor Justin Theroux last year.
But Jennifer, who also dated actor Vince Vaughn, gets fed up with people calling her “sad-in-love Jen”.
She says: “When a couple break up in Hollywood, it’s the woman who is scorned. The woman is left sad and alone. She’s the failure. F that.”
She added: “Some people are just built to be wives and have babies. I don’t know how naturally that comes to me.”
For Jennifer, happiness comes from being at home in her £16million Bel Air mansion with good friends and her three dogs, Dolly, Sophie and Clyde.
She loves to cook and every weekend hosts pool parties she calls “Sunday Fundays” for the children of friends. Jennifer says: “My house was always like the clubhouse. I love entertaining.”
But she has no plans to put her feet up at home permanently.
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Jen says: “I’m just starting. I’d absolutely love to be in a Bollywood movie, especially those dance numbers at the end. It would be fantastic.
“I’ll always want to keep acting as long as there’s a desire for me to do it.
“As long as I’m fulfilled in other ways — creatively, spiritually, and all of that stuff — I know that I could do this until they put me in a home.”
MEN WHO WON HER HEART
Adam Duritz (1995): She dated the Counting Crows frontman for less than a year.
Tate Donovan (1997): The pair got engaged and he starred in Friends with her but they split the following year.
Paul Rudd (1998): He was her co-star in rom-com The Object Of My Affection.
Brad Pitt (1998): They were set up on a date by their managers and married in 2000. But he met Angelina Jolie on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith in 2003 and two years later Jen and Brad divorced.
Vince Vaughn (2005): They filmed The Break-Up together and dated for a year.
Paul Sculfor (2007): Had a brief relationship with the British model.
John Mayer (2008): Dated the musician, nine years her junior, for a year after meeting at an Oscars party.
Gerard Butler (2010): Dated after both starred in The Bounty Hunter.
Justin Theroux (2011): Started dating after they had finished filming Wanderlust. They got engaged in 2012 and married in 2015. The couple announced their separation in February last year while adding that they would remain friends.
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