'Eat Pray Love' In; Botox Out?

Aug. 13, 2010— -- She eschews Botox, chants at a Hindu temple and puts her family before career. At 42, Julia Roberts seems to be hitting her stride.

With her new movie "Eat Pray Love" opening today, the actress told "Good Morning America," "It's nice to be really fulfilled and happy and play that your life is a mess."

Like other actresses in their 40s, Roberts is reinventing what it means to be in the fourth decade of life. Not being afraid of growing older is part of it.

Earlier this week, Roberts drew headlines for her comments nixing Botox. "I want my kids to know when I'm pissed, when I'm happy and when I'm confounded," she tells the current issue of Elle. "Your face tells a story and it shouldn't be a story about your drive to the doctor's office."

Her comments garnered cheers, especially from "Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher, who posted on her Facebook page photographs of herself fresh out of the shower to show off her wrinkles and reveal that, while she once used Botox, she doesn't anymore.

"Love it or hate it, my face that is, no surgery, no implants, no matter what 'they" say. Decided I'd shoot myself in to reveal some truths about 'beauty' and hope it makes you all easier on yourself," the 45-year-old actress wrote in part. "Yes I am alone in my bathroom naked in a towel on behalf of women everywhere trying to make a point. Women YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL."

Under a photo of her frowning, Hatcher wrote: "I can be mad, or confused or sad and tired. Julia Roberts had that same vein in her forehead in 'Eat Pray Love.' Proud of Julia for being a real woman on a real journey."

Like Liz, the character she plays in "Eat Pray Love," based on the best-selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, Roberts seems to strike a chord with a growing number of women more interested in self-discovery and authenticity than maintaining the trappings of youth.

"Maturity and endurance is sexy," Susan Swimmer, More magazine's fashion features editor, told ABCNews.com. "Julia Roberts radiates power, she's inspiring. And I think that's what were seeing."

That may explain why Roberts and some of her 40s cohorts have been selling more women's fashion magazines when they're on the cover than their 20s counterparts.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, 40-year-old Gwen Stefani outsold 25-year-olds Scarlett Johansson and Leona Lewis when all three appeared on separate covers of InStyle. Jennifer Lopez, who was 40 when she was on the September cover, outsold them all.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jessica Parker, at 44, beat 20-year-old Kristen Stewart when both appeared separately on the cover of Elle and outsold 22-year-old Blake Lively when they appeared separately on the cover of Vogue.

Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Others Reinvent Their 40s

More magazine's Swimmer is not surprised. "Consumers and viewers are finding these women are aspirational and relatable at the same time," she said. "They are living these fantastic lives, but they are also open about juggling career and family and dealing with aging in a youth obsessed business."

"These are women who are successful, living their authentic lives and making their own choices," Swimmer said.

When the fashion magazines' largest issue of the year hit newsstands this month, three of them will feature actresses in their 40s on the cover. Vogue has Halle Berry, who turns 44 Saturday; Harper's Bazaar has 41-year-old Jennifer Aniston; and Elle has Roberts.

It's no coincidence; all three actresses appear to be aging gracefully -- without medical intervention.

Recently on the red carpet, Roberts credited her husband Danny Moder and "joy -- that's one and the same," for her youthful looks.

Here's how other female celebrities over 40 are refashioning their middle years:

Jennifer Aniston:

While Aniston has confessed to trying Botox once and wouldn't rule it out again, she told the U.K.'s Harper's Bazaar that she is proud of her wrinkles.

"These lines are just about living," she said. "Look, I eat really well and I work out, but I also indulge when I want to. I don't starve myself in an extremist way. You're not taking away my coffee or my dairy or my glass of wine because I'd be devastated."

Halle Berry

Berry says motherhood in her 40s has grounded her and brought her a clearer understanding of her difficult childhood.

"I have a new focus that's outside myself," she tells the current issue of Vogue, "and that feels really good, in your 40s, to have arrived at that place. I'm actually lucky and grateful that I waited until an age when I can really be present."

To stay in shape, Berry works out five days a week with celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson. "I do not love to work out but if I stick to exercising every day and put the right things in my mouth, then my diabetes just stays in check," said Berry, who was able to wean herself off insulin

Naomi Watts

Australian actress Naomi Watts, 41, scoffed at the thought of plastic surgery. "God, no!," she told the U.K.'s Daily Mail in 2008. "People my age and younger are having so much work done, but my view is that it's a terrible thing to mess with your face. As an actress, my job is to express myself. No, seriously, we've got to allow ourselves to age gracefully. And somebody's got to play the old ladies."

Instead, Watts shared some of her beauty tips: "Meditating and being with nature in the countryside. I love being outside with trees and water, lying down somewhere or walking. I love the ocean air and sleeping. I'm good at sleeping. I do transcendental meditation, which keeps me calm and steady. I also drink lots of water and have a facial every six to eight weeks."

Cindy Crawford

In 2009, supermodel Cindy Crawford admitted undergoing Botox procedures 10 years earlier, but today, at 44, she is much more relaxed about aging.

"I think I look pretty good," she told Allure magazine last year. "But I don't look the way I did when I was 23. So if Star magazine or whatever wants to print a picture of me on the beach from the back, at the worst possible angle, and say that I have cellulite, I'm like, 'Guess what? I do, and I never said I didn't'."

"Basically, I take care of myself, but I don't want to be obsessive," Crawford said. "And I don't want to not like who I am today. I'm all for fighting the good fight, but I don't care how much you work out or how much cream you put on -- things change."

Demi Moore

At 47, Demi Moore remains a popular cover girl for fashion magazines. She's also been dogged by rumors that she's had plastic surgery.

"It's completely false -- I've never had it done," she told Marie Claire last year. "I would never judge those who have -- if it's the best thing for them then I don't see a problem. But I don't like the idea of having an operation to hold up the aging process -- it's a way to combat your neurosis. The scalpel won't make you happy."

Salma Hayek

Mexican-born beauty Salma Hayek, 43, told May's InStyle magazine that she's had "no surgical tweaks. No Botox either."

"I think it is terrible, these girls in their late 20s injecting their faces and lips. One told me, 'If I kill my muscles now, I'll never get wrinkles.' Can you imagine?" the actress said.