NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

How Elle Macpherson beat muffin top, moods and ageing

AAP
12 Jun, 2014 01:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Elle Macpherson is feeling fabulous at fifty. Photo / Janna Dixon

Elle Macpherson is feeling fabulous at fifty. Photo / Janna Dixon

Elle Macpherson is telling an audience of women at Selfridges, London, what it feels like to struggle with a muffin top, fatigue and finding herself so irritable she shouted at the kids.

The big difference between Macpherson and the rest of us who accept being sleep-starved and stroppy is that, in true celebrity style, she countered her slump two years ago by creating her own sellable solution, an "alkalising greens" food supplement.

"I just wasn't feeling my super-self and I'd lost the spark which keeps you feeling energised and motivated," she said at the launch of her Super Elixir in the London store.

"My skin was dry, I was gaining weight around my waist, feeling moody and my joints ached.

"I put it down to ageing but then I thought, I don't like that feeling it, whatever the cause, and knew things had to change. So I got help with nutrition, threw out the ton of tablets I'd been taking daily, and helped create this brilliant alkalising supplement instead."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Without a hint of irony, she describes it as "my birthday present to women".

Even so, the model, who turned 50 in March, still has to deal with ageing.

"Do I look back to how I looked in my 20s? Yeah, just like most women do and I think, 'Wow, did I really look like that?' At the time I didn't realise I was that big a deal and wasn't so confident, even though I pretended to be so cool.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I feel better now than I've ever felt because I'm older, wiser and truly believe that being strong, inspired and capable is as important as our body shape.

"That's why I truly didn't have a problem with becoming 50, and I wanted to go into it with grace rather than fighting it. At this age, of course, you have to make more effort and being fit and being healthy from the inside is really important - if things are good on the inside, it shows on the outside.

"I just think women today want to look good at whatever age and realise it's pointless chasing after youth."

Her own youth was certainly charmed. She opted for modelling from the age of 17 rather than studying law and survived the demands of the often brutal fashion industry as well as high-octane, jet-setting and partying as her success grew through the 1980s.

Discover more

Entertainment

Elle Macpherson gets engaged to billionaire

10 Mar 11:15 PM
Lifestyle

Elle re-creates Playboy cover

04 Jul 12:00 AM
New Zealand

Elle Macpherson: 50 and fab

15 Apr 05:30 PM
Lifestyle

11 ideal body shapes since 1900

13 May 07:00 AM

"I have certainly gone through periods in my life where I haven't treated myself kindly," she says drily.

"I grew up young. I've done everything, I'm no angel and haven't led a sheltered life. In a sense I've experienced everything, partying with Andy Warhol, going to New York's Studio 54, and meeting Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

"I think I survived thanks to the values instilled in me as a child - a strong sense of family, commitment to what I love, self-discipline and a desire to methodically work through problems."

She adorned the much-coveted cover of Sports Illustrated a record five times, and, in 1986, Time Magazine put her on its cover and dubbed her "The Body".

"I thought, great moniker, brilliant for business - I'll use that, thanks," she says.

It's the name of her hugely successful brand and her lingerie range, Elle Macpherson Intimates, is sold globally.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She's also hosted - and been an executive producer for - fashion reality shows in America and is well recognised in the UK, which she's made her home, as a judge on Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model.

She has two sons, Flynn, 17, and Cy, 10, from her nine-year relationship with financier Arpad Busson, and wed billionaire, Jeffrey Soffer, a father-of-three, in 2013. Although she was married in her 20s to a man two decades her senior, Gilles Bensimon, a former creative director of Elle magazine, she admits she never thought she would marry again.

"I've never put much importance on it, but then the love of my life asked me to marry him and I didn't hesitate," she says, as she talks of the romance that broke up a few years after they got together but was rekindled when he narrowly survived a helicopter crash in the Bahamas.

Her anti-ageing tip is drinking three litres of water a day, and staying active - she's a keen skier and off-road cyclist.

"I don't like the word exercise - it sounds like a punishment. I prefer to say activity. Just 45 minutes a day is good and it can just be a walk. It doesn't have to be a gym session."

- PAA

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

How I learned to stop stressing and just have people over for dinner

19 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Talanoa

How a young widow's blog became a beacon of hope for others

19 Jun 05:00 PM
Lifestyle

Auckland cafe to close after 70 years following rates dispute settlement

19 Jun 05:00 PM

Help for those helping hardest-hit

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
How I learned to stop stressing and just have people over for dinner

How I learned to stop stressing and just have people over for dinner

19 Jun 06:00 PM

Washington Post: The mindset should be - less fuss, more fun with company.

Premium
How a young widow's blog became a beacon of hope for others

How a young widow's blog became a beacon of hope for others

19 Jun 05:00 PM
Auckland cafe to close after 70 years following rates dispute settlement

Auckland cafe to close after 70 years following rates dispute settlement

19 Jun 05:00 PM
Hate skiing? Try these snow-free winter adventures in NZ instead

Hate skiing? Try these snow-free winter adventures in NZ instead

19 Jun 06:00 AM
Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi
sponsored

Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP