People.com
Style
'She's 40, Not Dead': 19 Stars Who Really Don't Care About Aging

'She's 40, Not Dead': 19 Stars Who Really Don't Care About Aging

Age is just a number according to these Hollywood A-listers

By Brittany Talarico and Jackie Fields

Updated October 15, 2020 02:05 PM

Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission.

Skip gallery slides

1 of 19

Kristen Bell

Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

"I feel more in charge of my life and happier than I’ve ever felt, and that’s because of wisdom, and how I’ve evolved as a person. Did I have an easier time getting in shape and a better bathing-suit body in my 20s? Sure, but if I weigh all that against the wisdom I have now that I’m 40, there’s no comparison. I’m loving it and I’m wearing it like a badge of honor."

- On happily accepting her age, to NewBeauty

2 of 19

Kourtney Kardashian

Credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Sugar Factory American Brasserie

"The best part is reflecting back on how much has changed over the years. I feel like I have learned so much and have grown so much as an individual."

-On what she has loved about turning 40 (after a meltdown about the impending milestone earlier this year), to Vital Proteins

3 of 19

Busy Phillips

Credit: Busy Philipps/Instagram

"She's 40, not dead."

— captioning a photo from her birthday weekend on Instagram

Continued on next slide.

4 of 19

Gwyneth Paltrow

Credit: Jonathan Leibson/Getty

"I am no longer in my 20s and 30s, I am 46 and I love being in my 40s. I think there is this incredible freedom that comes with a woman in her 40s and understanding that this is who I am and I’ve stopped worrying so much about what people think of me."

— CNN panel at SXSW, March 2019

5 of 19

Reese Witherspoon

Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty

"I just feel like I earned that gray hair and my fine lines. I like ’em. I so prefer 43 to 25 ... I have a point of view because I’ve been on this planet for 43 years, and I didn’t feel that same way when I was 25. I didn’t have the same things to say. I’m 43 and I’ve had a whole bunch of experiences, and I can speak with a thoughtfulness about the changes I’d like to see in the world."

— Allure, April 2019

6 of 19

Cindy Crawford

Credit: Julien Hekimian/Getty

"Part of the reason I wanted to [pose naked for Russell James' book Angels] was that I thought, 'At what age is being naked not beautiful anymore? Is there a sell-by date on us?' I don’t look the same as I did at 20, 30 or even 40. If we take care of ourselves, why not? ... I look back at some of my old Playboy pictures and I think, 'Why wasn’t I walking around naked all the time?' I’m not getting younger. So I want to celebrate who I am today."

— PorterEdit, March 2019

Continued on next slide.

7 of 19

Sharon Stone

Credit: FeatureflashSHM/REX/Shutterstock

"You have to sit down and take a good look at yourself, particularly as you grow older and your face changes. People are afraid of changing; that they’re losing something. They don’t understand that they are also gaining something. I thought I lost the deep vortex on my eyelid that you have when you’re younger, but I gained almost a kind of beautiful abyss. As I lost the fullness in my face, I got in these great cheekbones. I can’t tell you how many doctors try to sell me a facelift. I’ve even gone as far as having someone talk me into it, but when I went over and looked at pictures of myself, I thought, What are they going to lift? Yes, I have come close — but, frankly, I think that in the art of aging well there’s this sexuality to having those imperfections. It’s sensual."

— New You, March 2014

8 of 19

Connie Britton

Credit: Rich Polk/Getty

"People tell me the 50s are the best time – I'm ready. That whole stigma of being over 40 and not being sexy anymore is fake news. We're more vibrant because we have experience, we know our bodies. I have a friend who says that you always want to make sure it's your life that you're living — it's a constant mantra."

— Good Housekeeping, May 2017

9 of 19

Helen Mirren

Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty

"The best thing about being over 70 is being over 70. Certainly when I was 45, the idea of being 70 was like 'Arghhh!' but you only have two options in life: Die young or get old. There is nothing else. The idea of dying young when you're 25 is kind of cool – a bit romantic, like James Dean. But then you realize that life is too much fun to do that."

— AARP The Magazine (December/January 2016)

Continued on next slide.

10 of 19

Naomi Watts

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/REX Shutterstock

“I feel so much better as a person now than I did in my 20s, but most of the time I feel like I’m still a kid. There are days you feel like you are on top of it and you are OK and at peace with it; then there are the days you still feel 28 inside — until you catch that reflection or see a photograph and realize you aren’t anymore.”

— NewBeauty, March 2016

11 of 19

Jennifer Lopez

Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

“I feel like I felt when I was 28. My bones don't hurt. I feel great. I actually feel better, more confident. When I was in my twenties, I wasn't sure of myself. Now I can really stretch. I don't have to stay in the box. At this point I can say to myself, 'So what if I fall, so what?' I'm going to get back up.”

— InStyle, April 2014

12 of 19

Mariah Carey

Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

“I don't acknowledge being in that age group [40s]. I have no idea what that means. I am eternally 12. I went walking in the street in a Stitch onesie the other night with my daughter. I think I have to remain eternally oblivious to age. Honestly, when you put a number on it yourself, it’s just like, 'Why? Why do that?' If I weren't in the public eye, would you know how old I was?”

— PEOPLE, November 2015

Continued on next slide.

13 of 19

Halle Berry

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/REX Shutterstock

“We have to stop wanting to look like that decade before. We have to stop coveting that. Let it go and embrace it now and really be OK. It's easy to say, I guess, but that's the goal.”

— Yahoo! Beauty, February 2015

14 of 19

Drew Barrymore

Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage

“When I was a kid, I felt like I should be older because I was working and not really being a kid. Then when I was in my 20s, I was like, 'I want to be a kid finally.' Now, it's the first time in my life that my age has met up with where my life is, and it’s perfect. I love being 40. I always felt not my age and now I feel my age and I love it. It feels comfortable.”

— The Ellen DeGeneres Show, May 2015

15 of 19

Jennifer Aniston

Credit: Mike Windle/Getty

“I've had more fun post-40 than I can remember – from a work point of view, a physical point of view, a psychotherapeutic point of view.”

— Harper's Bazaar, December 2014

Continued on next slide.

16 of 19

Kate Winslet

Credit: Mike Windle/Getty

"I don't feel old. I feel excited about being 40. You can get away with a lot more in your 20s. You can get away with having one too many vodka tonics, and you can wake up in the morning and not have a puffy face. I couldn’t go out now and get rip-roaring drunk; I’d take a week to recover and I value my life too much. Plus, I have children."

— Net-a-Porter.com's The Edit, October 2015

17 of 19

Gabrielle Union

Credit: Picture Perfect/REX Shutterstock

“[My friend and I] were having this discussion the other day, somebody was like, 'Uh, if I could just look like Kendall Jenner!' I'm like, 'Kendall Jenner is 12 years old [laughing], you are 44. Clearly you are going to need some other role models. You are going to kill yourself in an attempt to look like a child! It's okay for Kendall Jenner to look like Kendall Jenner, and it's okay for you to be fly and amazing and fit and a healthy 44-year-old woman.' It’s okay to have a range of beauty ideals.”

— PEOPLE, May 2015

18 of 19

Pamela Anderson

Credit: MediaPunch/REX Shutterstock

“I'm excited about getting old. I feel like there's much more freedom in aging and just going with the flow.”

— PEOPLE, February 2016

Continued on next slide.

19 of 19

Renée Zellweger

Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage

“People don't know me in my 40s. Perhaps I look different. Who doesn't as they get older?! Ha. But I am different. I'm happy.”

— PEOPLE, October 2014

Replay gallery

Up Next

By Brittany Talarico and Jackie Fields

Account

More

Account

More

'She's 40, Not Dead': 19 Stars Who Really Don't Care About Aging

1 of 19

Kristen Bell

1 of 19

2 of 19

Kourtney Kardashian

2 of 19

3 of 19

Busy Phillips

3 of 19

4 of 19

Gwyneth Paltrow

4 of 19

5 of 19

Reese Witherspoon

5 of 19

6 of 19

Cindy Crawford

6 of 19

7 of 19

Sharon Stone

7 of 19

8 of 19

Connie Britton

8 of 19

9 of 19

Helen Mirren

9 of 19

10 of 19

Naomi Watts

10 of 19

11 of 19

Jennifer Lopez

11 of 19

12 of 19

Mariah Carey

12 of 19

13 of 19

Halle Berry

13 of 19

14 of 19

Drew Barrymore

14 of 19

15 of 19

Jennifer Aniston

15 of 19

16 of 19

Kate Winslet

16 of 19

17 of 19

Gabrielle Union

17 of 19

18 of 19

Pamela Anderson

18 of 19

19 of 19

Renée Zellweger

19 of 19

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Everything in This Slideshow