People magazine has named Jennifer Aniston as the World’s Most Beautiful Woman for 2016, marking her second time earning the тιтle.
The 47-year-old graces the cover of the publication’s May 2 issue, smiling at the camera in a low-cut floral top with a dazzling cocktail ring on her right ring finger.
Inside, the timeless stunner talks about her beauty secrets, her relationship with husband Justin Theroux, and the ‘bubble ʙuтт’ she had and hated when growing up.
‘I thought, “Oh my God”,’ she said. ‘There was sort of very excited, sort of teenager-y kind of moment of feeling very, very flattered.’
So how has she managed to look so gorgeous in the public eye for over two decades? Jen, whose own beauty icons include Gloria Steinem, Brigitte Bardot, and Lauren Hutton, said it’s all about taking good care of yourself.
‘Oh yes, I’ve got a healthy bag of vitamins I take three times a day, like Viviscal and your basic omegas and vitamin C. Good stuff,’ she said.
She also makes sure to exercise for about an hour six days a week, doing a spin-yoga class three days, weight-training three days, and cardio at home — and insists she feels most beautiful after ‘finishing a great workout’.
‘Because I’ve taken care of my body, my endorphins are going, my blood is pumping,’ she went on. ‘I’m taking care of the one body I have.’
Those endorphins mean she’s happy, too, which she says is important — feeling good on the inside leads to looking good on the outside.
‘Inner confidence. Peace. Kindness. Honesty. A life well-lived,’ she said, listing what she believes are the keys to beauty. ‘Taking on challenges and not feeling shame for things that haven’t gone the way you felt they should have. And not feeling like a failure or allowing people to critique your life and make you feel like you’ve failed at something. That’s just toxic noise.’
Though Friends fans would beg to differ, Jennifer insists she didn’t always look so amazing, or even feel so great about herself.
‘When I was in my 20s, my face was almost a complete circle. So I really needed contouring,’ she said, adding that what was happening ‘before’ was ‘unfortunate’. But, she went on: ‘Now I’m slowly chiseling away, wishing I had that round face back.’
She’s also lost weight since an agent told her she was ‘too chubby’ at the start of her career, which she attributes to a ‘terrible’ diet of ‘milk shakes and French fries with gravy’.
‘I used to be such a little round thing,’ she said. These days, she tends to start her day with H๏τ lemon water, coffee, and a protein shake, before moving onto a salad for lunch and roasted chicken for dinner. She snacks on things like string cheese and hard-boiled eggs.
Even now, though, she has trouble accepting one area of her figure that’s always been a little rounder.
‘Well, I’ve never loved my ʙuтт. It’s sort of a thing. I had a bubble ʙuтт and was teased,’ she said, before admitting: ‘Now people are paying money to get things injected. Like, we’re sitting here dying over squats and I’m like, “Wait, what the trend?!?”
‘Now I’m just, like, my body is my body, so I’ve embraced things overall,’ she said. ‘Beauty has really changed for me over the years. It’s really learning to love everything about yourself and also realizing that it’s not just, sort of, clothes and what’s happening [on your face], but there’s so much more that’s beautiful in a human being.’
Jennifer also opened up about her relationship with husband Justin Theroux, telling the magazine that they ‘always’ work out together and he is ‘just the sweetest and the nicest human’.
‘He’s a really kind guy, which is huge,’ she said. ‘He’s the easiest person. I have great conversations with him. He makes me laugh — he’s so interesting and so interested.’
The new issue features several other beautiful faces as well, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Sofia Vergara, Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, and Kerry Washington.
Musicians on the list include Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Carrie Underwood, while Serena Williams represents the athletes.
A few particularly newsworthy women of the past year can be found inside People’s pages, too, including Ashley Graham, who said: ‘I’ve gotten a lot of compliments, but the ones that stand out are about the impact I’m making.
Remarkably, there are also quite a few famous ladies who are known just as much for their fabulous sense of humor as their good looks.
Mindy Kaling, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Kate McKinnon, Rachel Bloom, and Cecily Strong also all posed for the magazine.