One of the top-performing articles on MegynKelly.com last year was about Megyn and Maureen Callahan’s conversation on what they called the “load of B.S.” that is Hollywood’s beauty standards.
Stars like Salma Hayek, Jennifer Aniston, and Gisele Bündchen credit water, sunscreen, and healthy eating for their preternatural looks. And while all of those things play a role in taking care of yourself, they alone do not explain why a 50-something woman in Hollywood has a snatched jawline with nary a wrinkle in sight.
And it’s not just warped beauty standards. Celebrity fitness trends have set unrealistic expectations as well. Case in point: A recent article about Kelly Ripa’s workout routine that suggests you too could have a super toned physique at 55… if you are just willing to exercise more.
Once again, Megyn and Callahan called B.S. And on Friday’s show, they broke down how A-listers spin false narratives about staying healthy and fit.
Ripa’s Routine
Megyn said she came across a Daily Mail article this week detailing Ripa’s “unbelievably strict diet and workout regime” that the outlet claimed have caused fans to “gush over her physique at 55.” The piece mostly cited previous interviews given by fitness experts who have worked with the Live with Kelly and Mark host, including a sit-down celebrity trainer Anna Kaiser did with Hello!
In the November 2024 piece, Hello! breathlessly recounted how “Kelly Ripa never ceases to amaze with her boundless energy, beautiful sense of style and let’s not forget those abs!” The outlet marveled at how, “despite her hectic work schedule with hosting Live!, her podcast and The Generation Gap – not to mention she’s an author and she’s raised three grown children – Kelly always makes time to exercise.”
Kaiser told the outlet she had been working with Ripa for 14 years doing interval-based workouts. “She usually works out six days a week,” the trainer told Hello! “Even when she travels, she’ll do the workouts virtually if she needs to. Everyone knows that is her hour, morning or evening, she gets 45 minutes in and that is her time.”
“She never cancels and she’s let everyone know in her life that, that is her time,” Kaiser explained. “It has been the same for 14 years. Even if she’s had no sleep, she still shows up. If she’s exhausted, she still shows up and then we decide how and what we do that day.”
Kaiser told Hello! that everyone should make time like Ripa. “Even if you can only do 15 minutes or you only have time for a 30 minute workout, show up for the time you have as it all makes a huge difference to your mind and body,” she said.
Return to Reality
Megyn took issue with the idea that people who do not have flexible jobs and millions of dollars in the bank can simply make time to workout almost every day. “The average person out there gets up early. They try to get their kids off to school on time… You come back [home] and deal with the shrapnel of the morning, which has been left all over the kitchen and the family room. Then, you try to get yourself together and looking somewhat decent for the day,” she explained.
At that point, Megyn said most people either “go off to work an eight or nine hour day” where “you actually have agenda items you have to turn in” or are stay-at-home parents with “a shit ton of stuff to do.” In both instances, “you don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars to throw away on trainers six days a week.”
Callahan agreed. “I used to work out almost every day. Since launching The Nerve, I haven’t had time,” she shared. “And you know what stuff like this does? It makes me feel like shit about myself because why can’t I carve out 45 minutes? It sounds so easy, but it’s not. Before you know it, the day is gone and you’re tired.”
“The other thing I hate about this stuff and Jennifer Aniston is a prime offender in this area too because she is always… in her home gym with the Pilates equipment. That alone is $10,000 at least and then you have to have a trainer to use that stuff properly,” she added. “I used to do Pilates all the time. I love it, but [it’s expensive].”
Selling Aspiration
And then there is the fact that exercise alone is not what’s powering Ripa or Aniston’s physiques. “This is so unattainable, but they talk about it like it is #Goals,” Megyn said. “This would require a lot more than just carving out a mere 45 minutes and being super committed to it in your day.”
In the case of Hollywood-types, Callahan said the real results require a whole other team. “These people also have private nutritionists and chefs because that’s really where it comes from,” she said. “It’s not working out 45 minutes a day. That’s a supplement. That’s a nice add-on for longevity, health span, whatever. It’s really what you’re eating, and it’s having somebody who can measure all the food, and weigh all the food, and keep track of your intake. That is a full-time job.”
That is why, Callahan said, it is important to maintain perspective whether it’s Ripa’s ripped body or Jennifer Lopez’s seeming ageless skin. “So many of these people are selling stuff that is unattainable and really impossible,” she concluded. “What they are really selling is aspiration. They are selling the goal, but never really attaining the goal.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 1,257 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.