90s icon Melissa Joan Hart is all about balance these days—she works hard but knows when to relax. Hart, 48, shared a picture of herself wearing leggings and a white tank top with the words” Squats and Margaritas” on it. “Did my squats at @bft_brentwood… now for the margarita!” she wrote on the Instagram story. Hart has been steadily working since her Sabrina the Teenage Witch days and shows no sign of slowing down. Here’s how this mom-of-three she stays happy, healthy, and fit.
Hart tries to go the extra mile to keep her mind and body sharp. “I just think our society is making us cut corners where it feels like we’re not doing what we’re capable of,” she told Scary Mommy. “Even stairs used to be a modern convenience; now we’re taking the escalator. I notice that all the time. There are escalators everywhere now. I always take the stairs.”
Hart is proud to have steady work, even if it’s not something people might know about. “I put it on my social media, but unless you’re following me, you really have no idea,” she told Glamour. “I’m proud to say in the last year I directed more than I acted. Of course naysayers say, “You disappeared! You’re not working anymore!” I’m like, “Well, actually, I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing, and what I always dreamt for myself at an older age in this industry.”
Hart is embracing life with three children. “There’s something about getting older and just maturing, accepting. This is who I am. It’s OK,” she told Scary Mommy. “I have a little belly on me. And I think for every child you have, you’re allowed to be 10 minutes late. So I’m allowed to be 30 minutes late. Parenting is hard, right? As moms, aren’t we told… What’s the Barbie quote about doing it all and not doing it well? You have to be perfect, but you’re not perfect. Yet at the same time, we are capable of a lot more than we give ourselves credit for.”
Hart says she was inspired by Shirley Temple to go from child star to successful working adult. “When I was a young teen, I was really aware of the child-star stigma,” she told Glamour. “People will hit it big for one project, and then it’s really hard to work after that. I never expected this to be a lifelong job. I just thought I was lucky I had a show, Clarissa, and that college would lead me to my next career.”
Hart believes any movement is good for you. “It’s really important to take care of your diet, to drink your water and to make sure you get some exercise every day,” she told Us Weekly. “I try to do little things around the house.”