Anita Rani says ‘45 was a really definitive age’ as she looks forward to her 50s - ‘I feel really empowered…bring it on!’

Anita Rani has described 45 as a "really definitive age" for her and revealed that she is feeling "empowered" as she looks forward to her 50s.

Ageing is a universal experience but what isn’t always so universal is people’s response to this natural process. All too often it can be associated with negative feelings and perceptions, but TV and radio presenter Anita Rani is taking a very different - not to mention inspiring - approach. During an enlightening interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, Anita opened up about how she’s embracing midlife to the full. She shared that in her 20s and 30s she was self-conscious, so much so that she didn’t even wear bikinis on the beach.

So many people are inspired by everything from Anita Rani’s beauty routine to her fashion choices and presenting style, but it was only a few years ago when she turned 45 that she changed her mindset about herself.

The Right Sort of Girl by Anita Rani | Was £9.99, Now £6.55 at Amazon

This best-seller is a must-read and reveals all the things Anita wishes her younger self would've known. She writes about her life as a girl who felt she didn't fit in anywhere, and reflects upon growing up in Yorkshire in the 1980s with her Punjabi family. Updated with a new chapter, Anita wrote for anyone who's ever felt different or alone.

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"I remember feeling that 45 was a really definitive age, and at what age was I going to just wake up and be relaxed? Was I going to wake up every morning and go, ‘Oh, I can’t do this, I can’t wear that’?" she declared. "I was sort of exhausted by my own internal dialogue, where I was just down on myself all the time."

Now Anita is more than happy to wear a swimming costume in public - as she reportedly did on a solo spa holiday this year - and she came to a realisation that "everybody is too busy worrying" about themselves to care about her spa outfit. When her stylist Krishan Parmar presented her with her gorgeous see-through sparkly dress she wore to the 2024 BAFTAs, she "loved" it, casting aside any self-consciousness she might have felt earlier in her life.

She said, "In the past I might have gone, ‘Absolutely no way.’ But I put it on and just did not feel self-conscious. I just really loved it and thought, ‘Why not? Who cares what anyone thinks?'"

Her BAFTAs dress attracted a lot of attention and also sparked criticism from some at the time, however Anita stated simply that she’d "had a lifetime of people trying to shame me" and she "won’t be shamed any more". Now 47, the broadcast star is eagerly anticipating her 50s and loves her current age more than ever.

"I like this age. I feel really empowered. Also, I’m really looking forward to my 50s because if we’re going to age like J-Lo, or Cerys Matthews - I was with Cerys yesterday, she’s amazing - or Davina [McCall], or Claudia [Winkleman], well, they’re making the 50s look flippin’ really sexy, so bring it on!" she declared.

This isn’t the first time Anita has got candid about ageing and in September 2022 shared a powerful caption on Instagram alongside a fabulous photo of her wearing a Lanvin gown. In her message, she encouraged others not to "believe" people when they try to make you fear getting older.

Baby Does a Runner by Anita Rani | Was £9.99, Now £6.99 at Amazon

Anita Rani's debut fiction book tells the tale of Baby Saul, who's fed up with everything from her job, to her love life. Then the discovery of love letters between her grandfather and a woman who's not her grandmother leads her down a path of investigation and discovery that takes her to India. There, she not only learns a lot about the past, but about herself and what she really wants out of life.

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"Getting older, growing in confidence, understanding who you are, what you do and don’t stand for, finding your groove at work, having authority, having a great crew of mates who get who you are in this moment, having independence, working hard to live the life you want, which will only come when you put in the hours, (put the hours in) discovering that tequila is so much more than a cheap shot that makes you gip, having passion and a purpose. Shedding the fear and the shame. Listen girls and boys THIS is when you will feel at your most sexy," she wrote.

Concluding her caption in brilliant style, she added, "Don’t ever believe that getting older is something to fear. Women….it only gets better."