How the likes of Penny Lancaster, 53, Elizabeth Hurley, 59, and Amanda Holden, 53, are proving age is just a number as they flaunt their bikini bods

They’re nearing their sixth decade – and yet these stars are proving age is just a number as they continue to be fit and fabulous in their fifties.

Leading the celebs who are rolling back the years is Penny Lancaster: Mrs Rod Stewart, 53, wore a racy slip of a bikini as she holidayed with her extended family on a £50million yacht in Sardinia this week.

Thanks to the likes of Penny, as well as her equally glamorous celeb counterparts, such as Heidi Klum, 51, Liz Hurley, 59, and J.Lo, 54, there’s no question that you don’t have to hang up your bikini any more when you pass a certain milestone. 

This is certainly true for the likes of Amanda Holden, 53, and Davina McCall, 56  who don’t look a day over forty with their smooth complexions and incredible physiques.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the famous faces aged 50+ who aren’t afraid to showcase their stunning bikini bodies – and here’s how some of them do it… 

Penny Lancaster, 53

Penny Lancaster dressed for the European heatwave this week as she set sail with husband Rod Stewart and their family in Sardinia.

The couple are enjoying a family break on a £50million yacht and as temperatures across the region hit the high 30s, Penny stripped down to a barely-there black bikini.

The model-turned-policewoman, 53, looked incredible in the tiny halterneck bikini as she sunbathed on deck and chatted with her family.

Penny isn’t afraid to showcase her figure in barely-there swimwear and mini dresses – and previously insisted that age shouldn’t be a factor in deciding what outfit to wear.

She previously told the Sunday Mirror in 2012: ‘There’s that myth that when you get to a certain age, the hemline should be lowered. But I’ve always believed it’s all to do with the figure that carries off the outfit, not the age of the person wearing it.’ 

Penny has always been very athletic and used to swim, dance and do aerobics to stay fit – but admitted in 2020 how she piled on the pounds during lockdown. 

The former model was so mortified by the extra stone she had put on, that she took a photo of her stomach and used it as an incentive to lose weight again.

But after improving her diet and doing more exercise, the wife of Sir Rod Stewart, 79, revealed she lost more than 17lb in eight weeks.

Posting the before and after pictures on Instagram, she wrote: ‘During the lockdown I found myself entering my menopause and the side effects were exaggerated by the anxiety and fear for the virus and the unknown.

‘I turned to food and drink as comfort and gained over a stone. As a wake up call I shamed [myself] by taking a photo. It worked and with a new diet and exercise, I lost 17lb and 4in off my waist in eight weeks!’

Davina McCall, 56

There are few among us who are as dedicated to keeping ourselves in as good shape as Davina McCall who has the body of someone half her age. 

At 56-years old, the presenter, a mother-of-three, is in the shape of her life after devoting herself to ritualistic daily workouts – but its not your average hour in a local gym.  

Speaking to The Mirror, the My Mum, Your Dad presenter revealed she sets her alarm for 6:15am each day and immediately pulls on her Lycra workout gear, because it motivates her to exercise, even when she doesn’t want to.

‘I just put on a workout outfit because it means that I’m always ready,’ she said. ‘If I start my day in civvies I am not going to work out, it’s never going to happen.’

After hopping out of bed at the crack of dawn Davina hits the shower, before applying a variety of gels and patches – prescribed by her doctor to treat issues such as ‘brain fog and libido.’

Then comes breakfast, but bacon, eggs and a piping hot cup of coffee are most definitely not on the menu for the health conscious star.

‘I have the powdered bovine collagen,’ she admitted. ‘I’d probably have granola and milk for breakfast, but sometimes, if I’m naughty, I’ll do a crumpet.’

Unfortunately the granola comes with some potentially embarrassing consequences – so anyone considering a similar breakfast should probably give lifts and crowded rooms a wide berth.

She warned: ‘If you’re new to it, just make sure you’re around friends because it’s very, very farty. It’s just got so much fibre in.’

After breakfast comes a brisk dog walk with family pooch Bo, a regular presence on her Instagram account – but it comes with the added burden of weighted gloves.

‘I use them for walks, for all my exercise – even if I’m using dumbbells, I’ll still wear them,’ she said. ‘They’re just half a kilogram, but you’ll feel it. They’re the single greatest piece of kit I’ve ever used.’

The presenter also restructures her daily workouts on a regular basis, meaning she’s never doing the same routine for too long – a tactic that ‘challenges and shocks’ the body.

Mealtimes have also been tailored around her healthy lifestyle, with the presenter opting to eat her main meal at lunchtime instead of the more conventional early evening.

Elizabeth Hurley, 59

Elizabeth’s Instagram account is littered with sizzling bikini snaps.

The star has put her love of fitness to good use as she owns her own swimwear line Elizabeth Hurley Beach.  

The British actress says the secret to her youthful visage and incredible figure is very simple – she avoids processed foods. 

The 59-year old told The Sydney Morning Herald that she does not subscribe to fad diets. 

‘My tastes are pretty simple – I don’t drink weird green juices or anything like that,’ she tells the paper.  ‘I’ve always watched what I eat, since forever. 

‘I’ve never wanted to eat processed food. Right back to my teens, I’ve always looked at the labels on food.’

She did however make a new change recently, giving up prepackaged sandwiches. 

‘I cut all that out over a year ago… I just eat what I would say is very normal, which could be roast chicken, mashed potatoes and a couple of different vegetables. It’s definitely not anything new-fangled or weird,’ she said. 

When it comes to workouts, Elizabeth says she prefers gardening at home to formal exercise. 

‘I don’t go to the gym, but I’m very active… I don’t really sit still very much,’ she said, adding, ‘But I do a lot of gardening – that’s quite bendy-downy, picking stuff up!’ 

Amanda Holden, 53 

Amanda never fails to look incredible and is always showing off her enviably youthful skin. 

She has previously shared one of the secrets behind her youthful complexion, revealing one beauty treatment she has tried left her looking ‘five years younger’.

Amanda gave the beauty treatment a shout out on Instagram. Revealing that she’s been having collagen wave facials to help smooth out her skin, the Heart FM radio presenter explained that the procedure gives her an ‘incredible lift’.

Following her therapist’s suggestion to try a new natural treatment called Morpheus8, the Heart FM star described the results as ‘absolutely amazing’.

‘I’ve noticed a real plumpness to my skin and it’s much tighter,’ she added. ‘So I’m more than happy to shout from the rooftops about how brilliant this new treatment is! It’s been the best hour investment for looking at least five years younger.’

The star also uses clever make-up tricks to ensure the benefits of her rigorous skincare regime don’t go unnoticed.

‘In earlier years, her makeup was simpler with only a touch of colour on her eyes, some blush and a bit of lipstick and her eyebrows were also not as filled in and defined,’ award-winning make-up artist Stacey Whittaker explained to MailOnline back in 2018.

‘In more recent years, Amanda has been a lot more experimental with her makeup, opting for brighter eye shadow shades and dark smokey eyes paired with extra long lashes that allow her eyes to look bigger and brighter – and therefore younger.

‘It also looks as though Amanda has started to go for a bit of extra coverage on her skin for a more airbrushed finish.

‘Her use of highlighter enables her to look younger, as it prevents her face from looking flat and adds a youthful dimension to her feature.

‘One of the biggest makeup trends at the moment is of course contouring and Amanda has definitely embraced this trend the past few years.

Salma Hayek, 57

Salma has previously credited meditation with helping her to maintain her famous physique.

Meditation is a practice that uses mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness for a stable state.

‘I really believe it is. People say it’s exercising. I think it’s meditation,’ she told ET this week.

‘You have to find your way. For me, exercising is hard,’ she admitted. ‘It’s really, really difficult to have the discipline to do it. But meditation is a walk in the park, because it’s my own form of it.’

The actress meditates every day and she enjoys sitting ‘in a moment with yourself.’

In July, while speaking on Kelly Ripa’s SiriusXM podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera, Salma strongly denied ever using Botox after Kelly asked her about her gorgeous complexion.

She claimed that she could meditate for ‘hours’ after developing her own technique, which she found more helpful than trying to completely clear her mind, ‘because you don’t feel the time, and it’s so much fun.’

However, she did admit to using radio frequency and micro-frequency machines, which she believed help to tighten her skin and help prevent the appearance of significant wrinkles.

During a past interview with Glamour in February, the actress said she has positive feelings towards getting older.

‘I thought getting older meant I wasn’t going to work; I’m working. I thought getting older maybe meant that you’re not in love anymore; I’m in love,’ Hayek gushed to the outlet.   

Jennifer Lopez, 54

Jennifer has been famous for her curves since she first entered the limelight in the 1990s. 

Her trainers Dodd Romero and Tracy Anderson recently spoke to Us Weekly about how the 54-year-old Bronx native stays in such great shape.

‘Jennifer’s in better shape now than she’s ever been,’ Romero told the site. ‘She’s tough [and] really doesn’t ever complain about anything. Wherever I tell her to go, she’ll go.’

The Hustlers actress works out three days a week with Romero, he said, and she often mixes up her workout routines to keep it fresh.

Jenifer said on Live With Kelly and Mark in May: ‘I just finished [filming] a movie called Kiss of the Spider Woman where it was all singing and dancing, which was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting as well,’ she told hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.

‘I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been. I’m in fighting shape right now.’

Now her trainers have detailed how she works out. Her resistance training is hard.

Lopez includes three sets of hanging ab raises, rope crunches and weighted sumo-style plié squats, the site shared.

The trainer also shared that JLo likes to tone her glutes. Her favorite workout is a ‘supportive lunge.’

She is also known to drop by the Tracy Anderson Method gym in LA.

Heidi Klum, 51 

Heidi has credited her iconic figure to a low-fat breakfast of three poached eggs in a warm chicken broth, and told her followers that she doesn’t eat more than 900 calories a day.

Asked by a fan to share her weight, Heidi confidently dusted off a pair of scales, joking: ‘It must have gotten completely dusty. It’s definitely not possible anymore.’

Stepping on, a curious Heidi waited to see what it would show, revealing she weighs 138 pounds, the equivalent of 62.5 kilograms, or nine stone and 12lbs.

Heidi previous said that she no longer follows a ‘disciplined’ diet despite struggling with food in the past.

She told Red Magazine she’s finally ‘happy with who I am’ as she touched on being able to ‘just pick the right things’ when it comes to her eating habits.

‘I feel happy with who I am and how I am. If I wasn’t, I would change it’, Heidi shared. ‘I wear the pants I want to wear and I live my life so I can.

‘In the beginning, I had to [be disciplined about food] and now I’m just so used to it. There are so many choices, just pick the right things. Because then you don’t have the struggle.’

Tess Daly, 55 

Busy wife and mother-of-two Tess continues to defy age despite her hectic schedule at home and work, much to the fascination of her fans.

Tess has previously insisted that age is merely a number, that there’s not necessarily a magic product she uses to look so youthful and that it’s all in the mind. 

Speaking to MailOnline, she said: ‘Part of it is being in denial and forgetting I’m 50! And honestly, I am not being smug but I just don’t feel any different. I feel the same as I ever did.

‘I have kids – one of them is 10, so I’m always in the park with her. That keeps me young and active and on-the-go. Having children means the childhood spirit is well and truly still alive. But honestly, I don’t feel any different!’

Tess went on: ‘It’s about your brain and mentality. You really are what you feel.

‘I am not someone who goes. ‘right now it’s time for grey hair and glasses’ just because I am getting older. Some people talk themselves into it.

‘I am lucky to do a job I love, and have a young family, and work out and look after myself. Yeah, the wrinkles are there but I just try not to focus on them so much. Beacuse what can you do?’

Tess said that her industry doesn’t help in making women feel less wary of their ages, but that it helps her to fight back against ageism.

‘Women – and not just in show-business – are forced to start defending their age at a certain age. You can scour an interview about a chap off the telly and his age might not be mentioned at all. Women’s ages are usually listed in the first line. So ageism is alive and well in the world of showbiz.’

On her approach to eating she has said: ‘I’ve always been into eating well and love how your fridge can be like your own pharmacy. I’m obsessed with ginger because it’s antiviral and boosts immunity, and put it into juices and make tea with it. However, I also love cake and chocolate. 

‘People sometimes ask: ‘Do you not eat sweets?’ And I say: ‘Are you kidding!’ I’ll have cheeky snacks, but that’s fine because I do it in moderation. And I’m too busy to be unwell, so I take a vitamin gummy daily.’  

Paulina Porizkova, 59

Paulina was one of the top models of the 1980s and her physique remains the envy of many.

The Czech beauty is not afraif to showcase her figure and previously bared all on the cover of Los Angeles magazine in 2021.  

In an accompanying interview, she opened up about how she has learned to embrace her appearance as it has changed over the years while hitting back at those who suggest she should ‘retire’ from the public eye because she is over 50.

‘Most of the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive,’ she said of the response to her candid posts on Instagram, where she regularly shares makeup-free selfies, bikini snaps, and the occasional nude photo of herself.

‘But the negative ones have been so mean. They’re like, “You’re so desperate,” or, “It’s time to retire, grandma.” But I looked at those pictures of myself without makeup or without clothes, and I just thought, “Hey, I look pretty good for my age.”‘

Sharing her cover on Instagram, she once again shut down any ageist critics, writing: ‘For all of you who have an issue with an older woman celebrating her body and age, there is an unfollow button. Don’t make an a** of yourself by showing us all you don’t know how to use it.’

Although she now feels comfortable and confident ‘celebrating her body and age,’ Porizkova admitted to the publication that it took some time for her to come to terms with how the rest of the world views her as a woman in her 50s — especially when compared to the attention she once received as a young supermodel.

The model has publicly embraced her natural looks, regularly celebrating her wrinkles online while speaking out against trolls who bash her for posting risqué images of herself.

Porizkova, who has never had any form of plastic surgery or injections, further detailed her thoughts on cosmetic procedures during her interview.

She explained that she ‘used to be very judgmental’ about it when she was younger, but she has since adjusted her opinion.

‘I don’t blame anybody for wanting to look younger,’ she said. ‘I understand doing a bit of Botox, a little bit of filler, to feel good about yourself because looking younger is more accepted by society.’

However, Paulina urged people to focus their efforts on changing society’s views on aging, rather than trying to adjust their own appearance in order to fit narrow and outdated standards of beauty.

‘Really, the way to fix [society’s attitudes about aging] isn’t to try to look younger — it’s to get the world to embrace older people the way we are,’ she insisted.