Cat Deeley is looking better than ever at 49 and she puts it down to one key rule: knowing what works for her. Whether it’s for exercise, wellness or beauty, she’s reached that happy spot in life when she knows what she loves and sticks to it. ‘Consistency is key,’ the This Morning host tells GH. ‘I think, as I’ve got older, I’ve found what suits me.’ And it shows.
Cat is glowing with health as we meet in a London hotel penthouse to celebrate her appointment as the latest L’Oréal Paris ambassador and she’s delighted to talk us through her midlife must-dos for body and beauty.
‘I love yoga and I’ve been doing it about 30 years now,’ she says. ‘I had a teacher for a very long time, but I’ve also got a group of girlfriends that are all either yoga teachers or into yoga. So, we try to make time to go on a yoga holiday once a year.’
That’s the treat version, but the real trick is to make exercise work for her every day, too, especially as a busy mum of two young sons, Milo, 10, and James, seven. ‘I’ve done all different types – Ashtanga, Bikram, hot yoga – but now I have an [online] Glo Yoga account and I try to do some every day, even if it’s just half an hour. Little and often works.’
‘I’ll say to the boys, “Right, you need to do your reading books for half an hour,” and I’ll roll out the mat and do it. That’s how I stay consistent with my schedule – being able to press play and do it any time in the day, anywhere in the world, suits me really well.’
She loves how yoga makes her look and feel, too. ‘I just like how it stretches me out, how it makes my skin glow, how it calms my mind. When you’re breathing and moving at the same time, it’s almost impossible for your brain to spiral, so it mentally resets me.’
She’s smart enough to steer clear of workouts that don’t give that same rush of happiness, regardless of what’s in fashion. ‘I went to SoulCycle once in LA because everybody was talking about it and doing it,’ she grimaces. ‘There’s candlelight and great music going on and Chris Martin cycling next to you, but I went once and couldn’t walk for four days afterwards. So, that was it – I couldn’t do it!’
Things that are easy, painless and immediately gratifying are what work for Cat and that goes for her beauty regime, too. A firm favourite is L’Oréal Paris’s Revitalift Focus Instant Eye Bag Eraser, which acts as a kind of ‘face yoga’ to tighten and tone. As she explains to us, she uses on her tired eyes ahead of her early starts on This Morning, but also as a nifty handbag hack.
‘I like using the eye cream later in the day as well,’ she tells us. ‘If I’ve got an event later, it can feel as though I’ve had my makeup on my face on for so long – which I have! I sit in the makeup chair at 7am and sometimes I don’t have time to take it all off and then start again, so I dab the Revitalift eyebag cream over my makeup.’
‘You look very silly when you’re doing it, but you can feel it working instantly. It tightens everything else and makes your eyes less puffy,’ she says. ‘A bit of airbrushing, a little retouch. Ta-da! Fixed, done! I did my own before and after pictures and I can really see the difference.’
L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Laser Instant Eye Bag Eraser
Cat is very much inclined to go for the painless, non-invasive approach to issues like eyebags (not that she has them, of course). ‘I don’t have any hang-ups at the moment, but ask me again in 10 years’ time and I’ll let you know!’ she says. ‘I think if you lack confidence because of something that you see, then I’m absolutely all for someone doing something about that.’
She namechecks Jane Fonda as someone she hugely admires for her candid stance on beauty and surgery. ‘I love her, I love everything she stands for. I remember she said she’d catch herself in a shop window and see a little old lady there – it didn’t match with how she felt inside. I’m like, “Absolutely! Do whatever you need to do to feel great about yourself.”’
She recalls being alongside Jane once in the same Beverly Hills nail salon, during her days living in LA: ‘I got very overexcited and, of course, I didn’t say anything at all because I was too shy.’
Cat might, though, need to steel herself to be less starstruck, now that she’s joined Jane and other A-list icons among the L’Oréal Paris Worth It women. ‘I know! I can’t believe it. I’ve used their products forever. I was so excited when I called my mum to tell her,’ she says, beaming like the Cat that got the (beauty) cream.
It sounds like she’s going to be pinching herself for a while to come, but with her 50th birthday approaching, she’s in a good place to get her head round her success. ‘I think as you get older, you have a little less impostor syndrome. You doubt yourself a little less,’ she says. ‘I think there’s a lot to be said for the experiences I’ve had throughout my life, making mistakes and learning from that about what works.’
Seems as if she’s got it sussed.
Cat’s beauty favourites
L'Oréal Paris Revitalift Triple Laser Anti-Ageing Creamy-Serum
‘It just smooths out any fine lines and hydrates and plumps my skin as well, so all of that is working as I’m in the car. Then I jump into the makeup chair at This Morning and my makeup all just goes on perfectly.’
L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Triple Laser Anti-Ageing Creamy-Serum
L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Triple Laser Anti-Ageing Creamy-Serum
L'Oréal Paris Preference 7.3 Golden Blonde Permanent Colour
'I’m such a fan of this. It’s nothing like those old-fashioned box colours. It’s so much easier, and makes hair so shiny. The conditioner that’s in there as well is absolutely incredible.'
L'Oreal Paris Preference 7.3 Golden Blonde
