JENNIFER ANISTON didn’t let turning 50 stop her posing topless in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine. In a defiant interview, the twice-divorced actress brimmed with body confidence and spoke of her hopes for new love. Here, JENNY FRANCIS speaks to four self-assured, twice-divorced women . . . who dare to bare like the Friends star. Karen, 52 MUM-of-four Karen […]
JENNIFER ANISTON didn’t let turning 50 stop her posing topless in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
In a defiant interview, the twice-divorced actress brimmed with body confidence and spoke of her hopes for new love.
Here, JENNY FRANCIS speaks to four self-assured, twice-divorced women . . . who dare to bare like the Friends star.
MUM-of-four Karen Webb-Meeks says posing in hot pants is the ultimate way to show off body positivity into your fifties. The jewellery maker from Retford, Notts, says:
Celebs like Jennifer who have gone through divorce but come out the other side have been so important for me.
I first got married at 19 and assumed it would last for ever. I had three beautiful children, Katie 28, Poppy, 25, and Harvey, 23.
But when my mother, father and brother all died between 1993 and 1995, that made me re-evaluate my life and I realised my marriage wasn’t making me happy.
In 1998 we divorced after 12 years and it wasn’t until 2006 I felt ready to date again. I met Bill, who’s 55, on a dating site. We married nine months later and in 2013 had our son Charles, now six.
I never thought a second marriage would end but we drifted apart and divorced in 2016.
I took a deep breath and decided to change career. I always loved jewellery and wanted to make it, so I set up my own business. It’s been thrilling. It helped me keep my confidence.
I don’t regret my marriages. I learned so much from both. I now say yes to everything and posing like Jennifer is a prime example.
BRISTOL’S Shelley Reice has realised she doesn’t need a man to feel loved. The cleaning firm boss and mother of one says:
It shouldn’t be a taboo to be a double divorcee. In 1997 I married my first husband, Colin. He was seven years younger than me and I was besotted.
The following year we had our son Matthew, now 21, but the pressure of parenthood caused arguments and we split in 2002.
We stayed friends for our son. It took me three years to find a man I wanted to date. I was so busy I didn’t have time to fall in love again until I met Mark, 58, through friends.
We lived together for six years before we married in 2012. Looking back, that was a last-ditch effort to salvage a relationship that was going downhill.
We split in 2014 and divorced in 2015.
After two failed marriages, everyone assumes you’re depressed! I threw myself into work and put myself first. I worked out and started entering beauty pageants for older women to boost my confidence.
I feel amazing and I loved that Jennifer said the same thing. I hope other double-divorced women will see these pictures and feel empowered too.
RETIRED medical secretary Sophia Bovell hasn’t given up on finding true love. The gran from Chippenham, Wilts, says:
Whenever I’ve felt down about my divorces, I turn on Friends to make me smile. I’m annoyed at how people feel sorry for Jen when she breaks up with a partner. How do they know she didn’t break it off and is way happier without him?
I met my first husband in 1990. We married within a year and had our children Georgia and Cameron, both 29, and Ethan, 28.
We divorced after eight years and it was a relief for us both. We’d grown apart.
I was single for six years before I found love again but I liked the time alone.
In 2003, I met my second husband Paul. We married in 2004 but it was soon clear it wasn’t going to work and we divorced after just nine months.
I wanted a fresh start and to enter my fifties with a new outlook.
I took up work as a singer and enjoyed being a grandma.
I wanted to pose like Jennifer to prove to myself being a double divorcee does not have to stop you feeling good about yourself and looking hot.
JULIE BRYAN reckons posing topless like Jennifer is a chance to celebrate her fifties and being single. The beauty salon owner and gran, from Grimsby, says:
Posing topless is something I’d never have thought I’d do when I got married the first time.
Back then, I was shy and imagined in my fifties I’d be happily married, seeing grandkids and planning retirement. Now I’m single after a second divorce, with my own business and not worried if I have a date.
In 1989 I worked in a factory when I met my first husband, Steve Preston, who is 61. We married a few months later. I had Lee, now 39, and Ashley, 38, soon after. But things got boring and we split two years later.
I met Paul Bryan in a pub. We dated for a year before I got pregnant with our daughter Chloe in 1994 and we married in 2000.
Ten years on, he lost all interest in me. We divorced in 2017. I was devastated. I felt a failure. I weighed 16st and looked about 70.
I lost seven stone in 18 months, had Botox and fillers and revamped my wardrobe. I’m unrecognisable from how I was in my forties. I feel sexier and I’m proud to be single.
I wanted to pose just like Jennifer did to mark my fifties reinvention.
