56 year old Sharon Stone graces the March cover of Shape Magazine in a bikini no less!!! The star who turned into a sex symbol at 22 when she starred in Basic Instinct shares her struggles with how she looked as she aged. She says that when she reached her 40s she locked herself inside a bathroom with a bottle of wine and wept as she examined her ‘face in the magnifying mirror’. She then decided to focus on aging gracefully rather than fading into the youth-obsessed standards of beauty. I love the fact that she’s trying to live a healthy life and isn’t falling into the trap of excessive plastic surgery (which she touches on in the interview). She also shares details on how she stays in shape, and her diet:
On Current Standards of Beauty: “This idea that being youthful is the only thing that’s beautiful or attractive simply isn’t true. I don’t want to be an ‘ageless beauty.’ I want to be a woman who is the best I can be at my age. We’ve got 400,000 girls with beachy blonde hair, the same nose, gigantic lips, implants in their cheeks, and little Chicklets for teeth. Are they really prettier?”
On Her Struggle With Ageing: “There was a point in my 40s when I went into the bathroom with a bottle of wine, locked the door, and said, ‘I’m not coming out until I can totally accept the way that I look right now.’ And I examined my face in the magnifying mirror, and I looked at my body, and I cried and cried and cried. Then I said to myself, “You’re going to get old now. How do you want to do that?” And I thought, “I’d like to age like a dancer.” I want to keep my body in shape like that. I want to do the work. I like to dance and stretch. And I like going to the gym.’”
On How She Keeps in Shape: “Every time I exercise, I do something different based on which areas need to get in motion,” she says. She credits her physique to total-body stretches, strength straining, yoga, and dance. “Sometimes I do a series of standing leg lifts and circles in the tub, using the water as resistance.”
On Embracing Her Womanhood: “I’m not trying to make myself look like a girl because I’m not a girl anymore. I’m very happy about being a grown woman. I think there’s a lot of sexuality, and glamour, and allure, and mystery to being a woman that you just don’t have when you’re young.”
On Her Diet: “I like porterhouse steak, rib-eyes and New York strip. This works for me because I have very low cholesterol and low blood pressure. It’s not good for everyone; you have to talk to your doctor about that. I also eat fish and cheese. I like clean food prepared as simply as possible. I used to love wine, but I don’t drink at all now. I think, at a certain point, it’s better for women not to have any alcohol because it can make your face, breasts and midsection get very bloated.”
For more from Stone, plus her exclusive total-body workout, pick up the new issue of Shape, on stands and iPads.
