Truth is, celeb beauty a full-time job

ON THE EDGE column for Nov. 14, 2008:

Do you want a body like Gwyneth Paltrow‘s? How about Jennifer Aniston’s? Or Kelly Ripa‘s?

Magazines offer plenty of advice for women who want to look like their favorite toned and taut celebrities. Tips straight from the stars are available for less than the cost of that mocha latte you shouldn’t be drinking. How to work out, when to work out, what to eat, when to eat - women’s magazines will tell you everything you need to know.

Except how those celebrities really do it.

We all know it’s not easy to look like an A-list actress. What many people don’t know - and magazines don’t tell you - is that it’s actually a full-time job.

Magazines sell millions of copies a month by making it look as if the average woman, with a little work, can at least approach that ideal.

They’re selling an impossible-to-achieve fantasy.

In the past few months, details of stars’ real regimes have been leaked. It turns out they’re nothing like the workouts published in magazines.

Miss Ripa - and her seriously toned arms - is on the cover of the November issue of Shape, for example. Inside, readers get a peek into how the co-host of “Live With Regis and Kelly” got that body. A headline promises “6 moves that keep Kelly in amazing shape.”

Miss Ripa does a lot more than six strength moves to keep in shape, though. She spends hours a day working out, as any regular viewer of her show knows. She takes an intense, hourlong toning class at least four times a week at hot New York gym Physique 57 and runs at least three to five miles most days. That’s in addition to the private classes she sometimes has with the gym’s owner.

Clearly, you won’t look as ripped as Miss Ripa if all you do are those simple six moves.

Madonna’s divorce battle has given us a rare glimpse into a superstar’s everyday life - and it’s intensely focused on keeping up that superstar body.

Numerous newspapers have reported that one big reason her marriage to director Guy Ritchie broke down is the amount of time she spends in the workout room. She apparently exercises up to four hours a day, six days a week, doing a mix of running, swimming, Pilates and strength training. She had little time left, her ex’s people told reporters, to spend with her husband and children.

What real woman - with job and family responsibilities and no cash to spend on private gyms and trainers - has four hours to devote to exercise?

Even Madonna, whose body has made her millions of dollars, feels the strain of such a schedule.

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