Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is known for her good looks and svelte figure, however, the 51-year-old has revealed it ain’t easy to maintain her trim body as she ages and that she’s been forced to go to extreme lengths to stay in shape.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Monday, Catherine, who is married to fellow movie star Michael Douglas and is mum to their children Dylan and Carys, said she follows a strict diet and only eats “real food” in order to maintain her figure. That means no junk food and no cheat days. The Zorro actress said she plans to quit her strict diet someday in future and wants to spend her old age gorging on copious amounts of cakes and sweets.

“When I get really old I’m going to start taking a lot of vitamins because I only want to be able to eat dessert for the rest of my life,” she said. “I only actually eat real food because I have to right now. My dream is to only eat desserts, ever. It’s a goal.”

In the meantime, the actress starts her day with a healthy breakfast, whether it be porridge with banana, a small sprinkling of brown sugar and berries in the cooler months, or non-fat Greek yogurt with berries and granola in the warmer months.

“I always eat breakfast; I’m not one of those people who can skip it,” she said. “I have a go-to breakfast that happens every day.”

This isn’t the first time the actress has opened up on her diet regime. She told W Magazine back in 2017 that her secret to achieving beauty from the inside out was drinking plenty of water.

“Water, maintaining my PH balance, no alcohol and through diet keeping my body free of any inflammation inside and out,” she said.

The star also revealed her favourite ways to exercise, listing swimming, tennis, cycling and tap dancing. Catherine is a talented dancer and regularly shares dancing videos with herself busting a move with her 3.6 million Instagram followers. Her latest video was posted in March last year, shows her giving her best Shakira impression.

Meanwhile, in the same WSJ interview, the actress also opened up on her 20-year-marriage with Michael, telling the news outlet that the key to their happy marriage was constant love and respect and a sense of humour. The pair tied the knot in 2000.

“My husband is 25 years older than me; that’s not a secret,” she said. “With any relationship, it wouldn’t be normal if there weren’t any ups and downs. The constant is love and respect. We’ve never, ever lost our sense of humour and we enjoy each other’s company.”