Nicole Kidman is 55 years old and she’s ripped. Like, weirdly ripped, right? Nicole covers a new issue of Perfect Magazine. She did an artsy editorial with photographer Zhong Lin which is actually sort of cool, except for the bangs trauma on that pin-straight clown wig. But going back to Nicole being so jacked these days… I’ve never really considered her a particularly ripped person, or someone muscular or focused on “arm days” or what have you. She’s always been thin and tall and fit, naturally lithe in a way I will never be. Maybe she’s one of those “I’ve always been secretly jacked” women.
Sigh… I need to work on my arms. I admire women who can keep their arms strong and lean. I kind of feel like Nicole has probably changed up her fitness routine recently, maybe even for a role. Anyway, the rest of the editorial is very… artsy. Nicole used to do these kinds of shoots all the time, especially in the first few years after her divorce from Tom Cruise. It was like she was reclaiming a new identity, that of an avant-garde artist and artist’s muse. She has such a strong look for editorials, she’s really underrated that way.
Cover & IG courtesy of Perfect Magazine.
I will never forget a story this guy I worked with told me about watching Nicole Kidman on the set of Practical Magic. He said she had an assistant who carried food for her. Like little snacks. I want to say M&Ms or trail mix or something. And every hour or so the assistant would go to her and pop ONE M&M in her mouth. And that was all they would see her eat. My friend said it was super weird. Anyway, my suspicion is that she eats very very little. And when you have no fat on you, muscle definition isn’t hard to come by with a bit of weight lifting.
I don’t understand how people can function that way. I’ve had years when I didn’t eat a lot and I could barely function. Tired all the time, trouble reading and comprehending, etc.
It’s her job to project a certain image and she has lived by that for decades. So many of these actors do it – men AND women. I couldn’t.
If she takes appetite suppressants then she may not be hungry for more.
But how do you emotionally not want the comfort of eating? Seriously, tell me how.
@ERICA Celebs and rich people function that way because they have the money to get vitamin pumped into their blood. They can afford to get the best of the best, without lacking in nutrition.
She must be working out for a role because even if you don’t eat, it takes effort to get that kind of muscle when you didn’t have any before. She’s always been super skinny but no real definition of muscle. You can see more tone in her abs and slightly more in her legs, this is new.
I think her legs have always been toned. Arms… not so much so she went to the gym for a role
When you have no body fat there is no other place for your skin to land than on your muscles. She is just a woman who apparently eats the bare minimum to stay alive and whose body is basically muscles, bones and skin covering the whole thing. I say this with caution because I know that there are people out there who are naturally thin. BUT she was not always like this. There are a number of actresses who got incredibly skinny after their thirties such as Kidman and Isabelle Huppert. It seems to me like functional disordered eating. I hope I’m not right.
Totally agree. I think being that thin is part of the job, unfortunately.
Being thin, shapeless (breast implants aside) and roided is not a good combination. The orange spray tan doesn’t help either. Oh well.
I believe this is new, and probably? for a role. We have all seen her at least sleeveless, and she has not been like this. Just google images of her.
You can’t build muscle without eating, even in women. And you can’t maintain the energy sufficient to lift to get arm muscles like that without eating. She’s clearly eating something, probably a very low-carb, high-protein diet which can just be some trail mix, yoghurt, cottage cheese, etc. I’m sure she does follow a very restricted diet, but this idea that she has guns (and deltoids) like that while starving herself is silly.
That’s assuming that this photo hasn’t been retouched. But I would guess a bit of column A (disordered eating) and a bit of column B (fueling for muscle gain).
Even without retouching, it looks like the photographer is using some bodybuilding tricks with lighting and body oil to accentuate her muscle definition.
Grant I second what you said. Building and Maintaining that physique requires dialed in nutrition and dedication to your curated workout program. I should know I do this for a living.
Maybe she’s dating A-Rod. Just kidding.
I think she looks amazing in these pictures. Her face looks like herself and not that tweaked. Also that hair color is amazing on her.
I think I read somewhere that she goes for many laps each morning in her pool and that gives a great overall workout, especially the arms.
I love her as a red head and wish she’d go back to her natural red color, instead of the fake blond which for some reason, I feel, has never worked on her.
Amen. I love her red hair and blonde just doesn’t do it for her or Lindsay Lohan either.
She looks like she wants an audition for a Marvel or DC franchise.
She’s already in the DC Universe as Aquaman’s mother.
As someone who has relied on starvation eating, wigs, hair dye, plastic surgery, injectables, etc; is it a stretch to think she used steroids and targeted changes in diet to bulk up OR is it more likely clever photoshopping like is applied to her face to make her appear to have no wrinkles at age 55?
She is not an example of normal aging, but one aging with the maximal help available through surgery, medication, weight control, etc.
While she looks good in a still photo, watch any of her recent films/tv shows and you will see she has a very strange, unreal look to her face when it is shown in movement, e.g. her appearance in Nine Perfect Strangers.
As someone in her age range, the post-menopausal weight gain is real, so I vote that she’s on some kind of pharmaceutical regimen to get her that slim. Also, not really that great of a look on her is it? It’s doesn’t look healthy, it’s muscular but simultaneously emaciated.
It’s recommended that w menopause that strength training lifting also can help longevity and prevent osteoporosis. It could also be for a role but she has young kids and access to best doctors and trainers, chefs so she can focus more than others.
She was a real twig in 20s and 30s but put weight on more normal side of thin after birth of first child.
I remember photo of her next to Kate Middleton and she actually looked twice size of Kate.
*AHEM* human growth hormone *AHEM*
+1
I live in Florida and it’s very common to see women look like this at her age. It is the only way to combat against aging. The surgeries only do so much….
Her torso & rib cage look abnormal. Hope she’s healthy.
I’ve seen in person several times, and she’s INCREDIBLY thin. Her legs are stick figure thin. And I remember the gossip out of the Cold Mountain movie set was how she only ate 3 hard boiled eggs a day, and Renee Z would exercise every second she wasn’t filming
Body aside, face wise, this is the most she has looked like herself in years. Her lips don’t look overdone and her brows don’t look as lifted. She looks good.
This photo is heavily photoshopped she does not look like that.
I’m most surprised by how good her face looks. She looked very pinched in Aquaman. Also, she had some killer fight scenes in it, so maybe she’s been working out for the sequel.
She has always had a perfect body. In the meaning of super slim and toned. Nothing new to see here, folks.
Naturally thin and then hardly eating, yes it’s easy to have muscle definition. However she’s definitely been hitting the weights because imo/exp I don’t think you can get that look particularly in the shoulder/pec area from simply diet and yoga/Pilates alone. On the flip side re: diet, it would be hard for a woman esp of her age to be able to maintain that amount of muscle without some protein calories.
It reminds me of seeing a post-career Steffi Graf looking quite skinny and not particularly muscular like she was in her playing days… She explained this as naturally being that way and having to force herself to eat more to be stronger to play. Maybe Nicole’s doing some targeted force feeding for a bit.
It’s amazing to me that with all the surgeries, Botox, fillers, etc. that she hasn’t fixed her nose. The tip of her nose has always been uneven, and it just kills me that she does everything else to her body, face and hair but doesn’t get this obvious flaw fixed.
There is only so much a nose job can achieve. Maybe she has inquired and it turns out that such a minor “fix” could just cause other issues, like a collapsed bridge (her nose already looks tiny with not much cartilage to play with).
Would it be worth the risk if there was a chance things could not turn out perfectly?
It’s very very hard / almost impossible to create perfect symmetry, plus she has very thin skin so asymmetries will show easily.
I say this because I wanted a second nose job to tweak the tiiiiiiniest thing and was advised not to by 2 top docs. They said it wouldnt be worth the possible complications.
Also her nose is cute and beautiful imo.
There is only so much a nose job can achieve. Maybe she has inquired and it turns out that such a minor “fix” could just cause other issues, like a collapsed bridge (her nose already looks tiny with not much cartilage to play with).
Would it be worth the risk if there was a chance things could not turn out perfectly?
It’s very very hard / almost impossible to create perfect symmetry, plus she has very thin skin so asymmetries will show easily.
I say this because I wanted a second nose job to tweak the tiiiiiiniest thing and was advised not to by 2 top docs. They said it wouldnt be worth the possible complications.
Also her nose is cute and beautiful imo.
Calling an unevenness on her nose a “flaw” is plain problematic and rude. There is no universal concept of what is pretty and what’s not, perhaps she (like most of us) doesn’t think it’s a flaw?
On the other side of the spectrum, in several countries faces altered by procedures (be it plastic surgery, fillers, botox, etc) which apparently are normal in Hollywood, are considered ugly.
“bangs trauma” is a boring thing to say/write/read.
Agreed!
It seems so obvious to me that Nicole, like the vast majority of actresses, follows a very, very restricted diet. I’m sure she eats but I doubt it’s a lot, and her calories and nutrition are likely closely monitored by a personal trainer/dietician. I’m a couple years younger than her and man, it’s a real challenge to keep menopause weight gain at bay. Granted, I’m not tall and I’ve never been thin in the way Nicole is, but I’ve always been slim and I’ve always exercised — and yet, in the last couple of years, my body has definitely changed. I hate the term bat wings, but I’ve got ’em now, and I’ve gained a little weight in places I never gained it before (like my middle) — and it is STUBBORN, let me tell you. I obviously wasn’t quick enough to alter my diet or exercise routine in a way that would combat the changes that come with menopause. But I don’t have a personal trainer or personal chef to help me out in that department, nor is anybody paying me 7-figure salary to look a certain way. So I accept a little extra weight — I’ve gained it by enjoying good wine and food with friends and not choosing to spend 3 hours in a gym everyday.
I LOVE this photoshoot
It’s called steroids.
I thought she looked pretty ripped in 9 Perfect Strangers.
Honestly, it’s kind of sad to see the comments automatically jumping to steroids, eating disorders, etc.
My guess is this is for a role, or maybe she wanted a personal challenge/goal. We don’t know. The judgment in the comments is HEAVY.