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The image we all have of Cameron Diaz is Hollywood’s fittest, coolest, most glamorous goofball.
“I fell into fitness by accident,” says the actress, a former string bean and smoker.
“But it’s become something I depend on physically and emotionally.
I feel so much more empowered now.”
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“I saw a Taco Bell yesterdayit made my stomach scream.
I would so kill that s—.
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The Body Bookis filled with similar lessonsit’s like Health 101.
Why take that approach?
I want women to know that it’s never too late to start paying attention to their bodies.
Until I started training at 27 forCharlie’s Angels, I didn’t.
I literally quit smoking a month before.
I was, like, ‘Ugh, I’ve got to do this training.
I guess I should stop smoking now.’
We trained eight hours a day, seven days a week for three months, and I was dying.
But at 41, I’m saying, ‘Thank God I started at 27.'”
Left: In top form at the 2010Vanity FairOscars party.
Compared with how fit you’ve been during different points in your life, where are you now?
“I’m definitely not in the best shape of my life.
It was sort of an experiment [Laughs].
If I wasn’t cooking, I was eating.
I put weight on and loved it.
But as soon as I went back to my normal workout and eating, I dropped it.
I was, like, Where’s my booty?”
So what’s a normal workout?
Then I do lunges with rows, squats, and pushing and pulling cables.
I do two sets of 15 reps on everything.
The whole thing takes me 20 to 30 minutes."
Left: At the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony.
When do you fit it in?
“I do it first thing in the morning.
I think it’s important to get a workout in, even if you only have 15 minutes.”
Left: At the 2012Vanity FairOscars party.
What about when you don’t feel like exercising?
“Some days I don’t.
Some days I stay in bed because sleep is more important to me at that moment.
And some days I go to the gym for literally 10 minutes.
But the fact that I got up and got there matters to me.
It’s not about having a ripped stomach.
It’s about taking care of myself.
Left: The 2011 Oscars party.
You have so many long and strong female friendships.
Gwyneth, Drew…
“Oh, I’m still friends with my boyfriends, too.
I feel like all my relationships are strongfriends, family.
I’ve invested in my people and they’re invested in me.”
Left: With Drew Barrymore at the 2003Charlie’s Angelspremiere in Los Angeles.
What would you want to tell the women coming up behind you in Hollywood?
Because they would discover all of your secrets?
“Hella f—ing yeah!
What I did wasn’t seen, and it will not be known.
Every 22-year-old does something stupid, and no one needs to see that.
It’s part of growing up and part of understanding who you are.
You do really stupid s—.
But at the same time, they shouldn’t play into it or do it to spite people.
That’s the worst high school mentality.
you’ve got the option to’t win on the scale of the world against you.”
Left: The 2012 Academy Awards.
What do you see for the future?
I don’t look forward like that.
And I said, ‘I don’t know.
Happy, hopefully.'”
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Steal Gwyneth Paltrow’s Workout!
