She’s currently winning plaudits and awards for her career-defining role in The Substance as an ageing fitness icon, whom – put out to pasture – goes to extreme and self-destructive methods to maintain the fountain of youth. The film sees Demi Moore’s alter ego, Elspeth, succumb to some truly horrific consequences; but in real life, the actress is faring far more favourably. In fact, unlike Elspeth, it seems as if Demi truly is ageing in reverse, stunning fans in photo shoots and on the red carpet with her glowing, line-free appearance and vivacious energy. Not bad for a woman who, at 62, truly is at the top of her game – in an industry that has always prioritised female youthfulness above all else.

So, what’s Demi’s secret? According to insiders, she’s committed to investing in the very best skincare and beauty treatments, and maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. But more than that – while she doesn’t fear or deny her age – she also doesn’t let it define her, embracing a “youthful spirit” that defies the dates on her passport.

“Demi has always had a very young spirit,” says a source close to the Hollywood icon, who first started her career in modelling, before making her acting debut in 1981, aged 19, on the US soap opera General Hospital. “Not that she isn’t wise, because she is, but she’s also very playful. She has joie de vivre, and is very in
touch with her inner child. She’s unapologetic about her zest for life, and she doesn’t subscribe to the school of thought that believes a woman can be ‘past it’. She feels as fit and energetic as ever.”

While Demi is triumphantly breaking barriers for older women right now – and holding Hollywood standards to account with her haunting and metaphorically pointed turn in The Substance – it’s safe to say she hasn’t always been so confident in her own skin. The actress herself has acknowledged the self-criticism and self-punishment that plagued her early life in the public eye, as she battled an eating disorder in the 1990s and also found herself in some unhappy relationships. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last year, she touched on the insecurities she’s since overcome, reflecting, “I can also look back and remember how critical I was, all the things that I found wrong with myself. So, it’s something that is really a job that has to start from within.”

Being happy with herself from the inside-out has been a longtime coming, but there’s still, of course, a focus on the outside aesthetics. It’s long been rumoured that Demi has had cosmetic surgery to maintain her looks, with commentators suggesting she’s had everything done from liposuction and a boob job to a facelift. But while she’s always denied those rumours, she has acknowledged that she invests money and time into the very best skincare treatments.

“She takes care of her skin like an aesthetician,” our insider reveals. “Every morning and night, she has a long routine that involves all sorts of lotions and special tools, like a vibrating gua shua [a skin scraping tool] for facial massage. People always ask her for her secrets, and she recommends laser treatments – she gets them on both her face and body. They increase collagen and erase sun damage. As far as admitting to something extensive like a face lift, or at least a partial lift because her skin is so smooth, that’s never happened. If Demi has done that, she’s keeping it to herself.”

As for the other tricks to her age defiance, we’re told it comes down to spending as much time as possible with her daughters – Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, whom she shares with her ex husband Bruce Willis – and her daughters’ friends, and also engaging in the “child-like” interests she’s always had. One of those, which may be most surprising to fans, is her longtime collection of ornate dolls. Speaking about her unusual collection earlier this year, she said, “They’re not like dolly dolls. They’re not even porcelain. They’re one-of-a-kind, hand-sculpted. I think of them more like sculptures that capture a moment of emotion, but it’s in a miniaturised human being.” Her sentiments may appear grandiose, but – ultimately – hint at a youthful spirit that shows she’s just as playful as she was when she was a young girl who played with dolls.

Likewise, the actress is almost always accompanied by her micro Chihuahua, named Pilaf, who travels with her across the world and – as those closest to her report – keeps her young and active. “I feel so grateful and blessed that she’s in my life,” Demi told Vogue last year about her mini pooch. “A veterinarian osteopath, who has a gift of speaking with animals, said that Pilaf told her that she’s a star and she’s here to teach me a new way to walk, which I think she has.”

Now, as Demi continues to dazzle audiences, and pick up all the awards, in her 63rd year – with her youthful inner circle, tiny dog, and collection of dolls in tow – we’re told she’s not feeling wistful about her younger years for a second. Instead, she’s embracing the ageing process with childlike glee, while keeping herself in the best mental and physical shape she possibly can. Whether that includes welcoming a new man into her life (she’s been officially single since divorcing her third ex-husband, Ashton Kutcher, in 2013) remains to be seen, but – like everything she does – we’re told she’s keeping an open mind.

“She certainly gets attention from men of all ages,” says our source. “If she wanted, she could have a twentysomething boyfriend on her arm. She prefers men in their mid to late thirties, that’s her favourite age, and her daughters are all for her dating younger. They get it: most men Demi’s age can’t keep up with her. It does put a lot of pressure on her to look as young as she can, but she’s smashing that challenge and looks truly phenomenal.”

Dolls, mini dogs and dating younger? If that’s all it takes to stop time indefinitely, consider us sold.