Kim Basinger, 72, Has Followed This Diet For Decades As Part Of Her 'Disciplined' Lifestyle

Kim Basinger is perhaps best known for her work as an award-winning actor and model. "L.A. Confidential," anyone? These days, however, it's the 72-year-old's healthy diet that's got everyone talking. "Kim's incredibly disciplined when it comes to her health and appearance," a source close to Basinger told Closer Weekly in June 2025. "She's been vegan for decades now, and she sticks to a very clean, plant-based diet, no processed foods, no sugar, barely any alcohol," the source added. But don't just take their word for it. "As far as I'm concerned, I don't eat meat," Basinger declared during a sit-down with Interview Magazine in December 1994, while issuing a caveat that she was currently still in the midst of giving up sushi.

It should be noted that the actor's reason for adopting a vegan diet stems from her longtime love of animals and work in support of animal protection. As you may recall, Basinger has long advocated for this cause, serving as a spokesperson for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and even starring in one of its "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaigns. "I love my work as an actress professionally ... but this is my heart, and when I stand up for my animals, then this is my heart," she told Extra TV in 2019 about receiving the Albert Schweitzer Award for her work in investigating animal abuse and what that meant to her.

As it turns out, Kim Basinger isn't alone in loving the vegan diet. Christie Brinkley credits this diet for her iconic look standing the test of time. During a May 2025 appearance on "Fox & Friends," the supermodel, who also turned 72 in 2026, told host Ainsley Earhardt that she had been vegan for about a year. "Try it. You'll love it. And you'll never feel better," she declared. 

A-list actor Michelle Pfeiffer, who turned 68 in 2026, also used to be a big proponent of the vegan diet, before eventually allowing herself to consume fish again. In February 2016, she went as far as to tell Urbanette that the vegan diet was the secret to her youthful glow. "Eating a vegan diet — it's just so much healthier," Pfeiffer said. She added that it wasn't until she went completely vegan that she "really noticed a difference in [her] skin." It's important to note that a vegan diet on its own doesn't guarantee glowing skin. Rather, a vegan diet often means eating foods that have high antioxidant levels, which is good for the skin. Consuming less or no dairy, which also comes with the territory, is often good for our skin, too. 

Before you go all in and hop on Kim Basinger's strictly vegan train in search of the fountain of youth, it's imperative that you know there are many things that happen to your body when you go vegan. Perhaps one of the biggest pieces of advice is to still make sure you're getting all your nutrients on a vegan diet, as you run the risk of becoming deficient in certain nutrients, including vitamin B12, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), creatine, heme iron, carnosine, vitamin D3, and taurine.

Fortunately, according to Stanford researcher and professor Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., your diet doesn't have to constitute an all-or-nothing mentality. (After all, even Basinger once allowed herself to have sushi.) "What's more important than going strictly vegan is including more plant-based foods into your diet," Gardner stressed to Stanford Medicine while discussing the results of his 2023 study published in JAMA Network Open, which compared the cardiometabolic effects of the vegan and the omnivore diets. "Luckily, having fun with vegan multicultural foods like Indian masala, Asian stir-fry and African lentil-based dishes can be a great first step," Gardner added. Simply put, if a strict vegan diet isn't for you, you can always opt for a healthy, albeit more flexible, plant-based diet instead.