With her lithe limbs, taut stomach and smooth, unblemished skin, Susanna’s bikini body is the definition of ‘beach ready’.But look at her face and you’ll notice the wrinkles and laughter lines, because, astonishingly, she is 61 years old.
In last week’s Femail magazine, Janet Street-Porter insisted that no woman over the age of 20 should ever wear a bikini.
‘It’s a total mystery to me why grown women think that putting all their bits on display and hoisting up their breasts like a pair of half-set jellies on a plate makes them seem alluring, sexy or seductive,’ she wrote. ‘What grown woman in her right mind deludes herself that her body will ever be “ready” for this ridiculous garment?’
But Susanna is one of a host of over-50s who disagree. Some are old enough for their bus passes, but their fantastic figures mean they have no intention of covering up.
Sparked by a spate of scantily clad older celebrities, such as Helen Mirren, 70, and Goldie Hawn, 69, they happily show off their bodies in the slightest of swimwear.
In fact, body confidence among the middle-aged is rising in general. A recent survey by an online retailer revealed that one in three women over 50 will be wearing a bikini on their holiday this year, compared to one in five last year.
So how do they keep their fantastic figures? Here, five proud bikini-wearers aged between 56 and 76 – none of whom has had cosmetic surgery – explain the surprising secrets behind their youthful bodies…
Forgive me if this sounds like bragging, but I think I could pass for a woman 20 years younger in my bikini.
And every year that passes, I simply become more confident about my body. With age comes the power to stride out on to a beach with head held high and not give a damn about how you look.
Yes, there might be the odd moment I want to reach for a sarong, but I don’t have that youthful naivety that makes people think a scrap of fabric will magically make their legs look longer or stomach flatter.
That said, I think it’s so important to make the best of yourself, whatever your age. I put my great figure down to an odd diet secret: raw garlic.
Every evening I crush a clove of raw garlic into a dressing made of olive oil, horseradish sauce, yoghurt and onion. I eat it with a side salad and a portion of organic meat or fish. I also eat plenty of parsley, which I believe neutralises the garlic smell.I’ve been making my dressing for the past 20 years, and it doesn’t just taste delicious: garlic contains nutrients that – when eaten raw – have antibacterial properties, while the copious quantities of olive oil seem to keep my skin supple and cellulite-free. The onion has anti-inflammatory properties which ensure I rarely get ill, so I can keep up my active lifestyle.
I walk an hour a day and as a result am still a size 10, and only 6lb heavier than I was in my 20s.
Yes, I am single – and I suppose my garlic might have something to do with it. Bar the odd long-term relationship, I have remained on my own since divorcing aged 33 after a decade of marriage. It’s not that I want to be alone – I just have yet to meet the right man.
But then again, if I shared stodgy suppers with a husband before egging each other on to finish pudding, inevitably I’d pile on the pounds.
Instead, I’m free to follow my own diet, which, admittedly, is not one many men would enjoy.