10 Celebrities Who Absolutely Loved Their 50s

Find out what these stars had to say about being 50…

Hoda Kotb says her 50s were the best years of her life. The former Today host, who turned 60 last year, recently shared that she experienced some of her favorite moments over the last decade, including becoming a mom for the first time.

“They always say 50 is the new 30. Fifty is the decade where I think things are limitless. Like, to me, my 50s were my favorite decade of all,” she told TooFab.

She continued, “I got my kids in my 50s, my job in my 50s. When we talk about the age of possibility, my blessings came in my 50s. I don’t think I was even born before then. This feels like such a new era for me…And I think anyone who thinks, ‘My 40s…I haven’t met somebody, I don’t have a family.’ So what? It’s coming, and it’s coming right on time.”

Jennifer Aniston has been outspoken in condemning how women are treated in Hollywood, especially when it comes to aging and their appearance. Reflecting on turning 50, Jennifer says that she believes life only gets better at that point and aging should be celebrated.

“I don’t think life stops after 50 — if anything, it gets more and more exciting,” she told Glamour. “For some reason, we don’t honor or pay respect to aging. It’s something that we look at as a negative, and yet every single person on this planet does it. I don’t understand why it’s not something that’s celebrated, why there’s some sort of an expiration date on who you are as a person worth watching and a story being told about you.”

As a woman in her late 50s, Halle Berry has never felt better about her life. In fact, she says she’s “firing on all cylinders” and life no longer feels like she’s managing a balancing act. She has her family and her career and couldn’t be happier.

“In my 30s, I was so focused on career, but I had a desire to have children and be a mother. So I felt I was lacking something,” she shared with AARP. “In my 40s, I took the decade to be at home and have children and be a mom. But my career was lacking — I longed to be back at work. Now, in my 50s I’ve got my babies, my career, and finally have love in a real, meaningful way.”

When Nicole Kidman turned 50, she said she was fully ready to embrace the new decade of her life. At the time, she said that she was at a point in her life where she felt truly blessed in all areas of her life — including her family and career, which was keeping her busier than ever.

“Just joy. I’m just really going, ‘OK, this is my life’, and I’m very, very happy to be 50,” she told Stellar magazine. “I think that’s what happens with birthdays once you get to a particular age, you’re just like, ‘Yay, OK, here we go!’’”

Tyra Banks admits she’s totally loving being in her 50s — while noting that it’s completely different than she expected. She says she’s still at the peak of her life and feels that she can now unapologetically be her true, authentic self.

“What my life is like now is totally different than what I thought 50 was going to be when I was a little girl. I’m poppin’. I am not insecure about myself. I ain’t trippin’. I often say ‘Child, [I’m] 50!’ before I say something. That statement gives me permission to say whatever the heck I feel like saying,” she told People.

Helen Mirren is of the mindset that you’re always exactly where you’re supposed to be. Looking back on advice that she received from her mother, Helen explained that while the thought of aging might be scary, it’s actually really cool when you get there.

“My mother once said, ‘Never worry about getting older.’ I know the thought of you being 45 when you’re 25 is, ‘Oh, my god! Who wants to be 45?’ But it’s amazing because when you get to be 45, you’ll realise it’s actually very cool and you don’t want to be 25 again,” she told Vogue.

She continued, “And I have to say, she was absolutely right. With every age comes advantages and disadvantages. And you tend to find that you don’t want to go back. You want to be exactly where you are with everything you’ve experienced.”

Michelle Obama is now in her 60s and says she feels more self-confident than she ever has before. And while she feels good now, Michelle says she’s always conscious to take care of her health so she can continue enjoying the decades to come.

“I have never felt more confident in myself, more clear on who I am as a woman,” Michelle shared with Parade magazine. “But I am constantly thinking about my own health and making sure that I’m eating right and getting exercise and watching the aches and pains. I want to be this really fly [when I am an] 80, 90-year-old.”

Vanessa Williams loves life in her 60s — and is much more self-confident than she was as a younger woman. She says that as she’s gotten older, she’s become more accepting of herself and cares less about what other people have to say about her.

“It’s a privilege. There’s a sense of ease. The older you get the less you care about what everybody else has to say,” Vanessa said on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “You’re living in your own glory. You accept yourself, you give yourself grace. And you don’t beat yourself up the way when we’re 20s and 30s, ‘I’ve gotta do this, I’ve gotta be this, I gotta please people.’”

Tracee Ellis Ross feels better than ever in her 50s. Reflecting on her life, Tracee says she’s become the woman she dreamed of being as a young girl. It’s only with age that she’s had the “boldness and the courage” to transform into that person.

“I feel the sexiest and the most beautiful I’ve ever felt,” she told InStyle. “I didn’t say I look my most beautiful, I said I feel my most beautiful, and that’s what’s important to me.”

She continued, “You know as a young girl, I had this woman that I dreamt of being, right? And I had her in my head and I would play around with being her in my bedroom and with certain people, but the gift of age is that you actually get to have the boldness and the courage to be that woman, to be that person and I’m experiencing it now and some of the things I’ve discovered in knowing myself is that I actually like myself.”

Oprah Winfrey doesn’t care how old she is because she doesn’t believe age should limit you. As long as you take care of yourself, Oprah says that no matter what your age is, there are always limitless possibilities in life.

“I’m not one to get hung up on numbers, but if you want to say 60 is the new 40, I’ll take that,” she told O Magazine. “You can be and do whatever you want, thanks to exercise and hair color. The absolute best part is being able to be free and do whatever you want. There’s nothing better than that.”