14 Celebs on Why Self Care Is Important and How They’re Becoming the ‘Strongest Version’ of Themselves

Meghan Trainor

Meghan Trainor responded to people’s questions about her weight loss in an Instagram post, saying that she had used “a dietician, made huge lifestyle changes, started exercising with a trainer” and had support through weight-loss medication as part of her “journey to be the healthiest, strongest version of myself for my kids and for me … And I’m so glad I did because I feel great.”

Jennifer Aniston

While chatting with PEOPLE about her partnership with Pvolve in May 2024, Jennifer Aniston opened up about her self-care practices, which include limiting her screen time.

“Put your phone down and get outside. Surround yourself with friends and connect with people,” she explained. “Try to think about … what is possible, as opposed to the doom that the world tends to appear like these days. We just aren’t designed to take in that kind of information all day.”

She said she also prioritizes getting to the gym each day, and finds she’s more successful when she does it first thing in the morning.

“After a long day, the last thing I want to do is work out,” she said. “I admire those who really can come home from a day of work and get themselves into workout wear and into the gym at night. I find that it’s incredible, but I just can’t see myself doing that.”

The Friends star admits that while some days are harder than others to feel motivated, she has a strategy to combat those hesitations.

“I say, ‘Just go. Do five minutes. Just move for at least five minutes,’ ” she says. “Then you find if you’ve gotten through the first 10 minutes of anything, you can probably do another 10 and then another 10, and then you just keep going.”

Kylie Kelce

As a mom to young kids, Kylie Kelce knows that moments of self-care can be limited so she’s learned to find peace in the little moments.

“Sometimes I have Lauren, our babysitter, come a little bit early just so that I can go and get coffee by myself,” she told TODAY.com in 2024. “I don’t want to go into the coffee shop and sit. I want to get my coffee and sit in the car in silence.”

She adds, “Sometimes I get all the way to coffee and all the way back without turning on the radio and I don’t even notice because it just feels good to be sitting in silence with your thoughts and a really nice cup of caffeine.”

Gabrielle Union

Back in 2020, Gabrielle Union shared the importance of being “the center of your own story” as a busy mom.

“We’re super conditioned to not center ourselves in our own stories,” she said during an appearance on the Katie’s Crib podcast. “Anything less than giving every part of ourselves to other people [and] we’re that selfish bitch, we’re the bad mom, we’re the bad wife, we’re the bad friend when you don’t give every piece of yourself to everyone else whenever they feel like they need it.”

She then explained what some call the “oxygen mask theory:” the idea that it’s only after you’ve taken care of yourself that you can be meaningfully help those around you.

“It’s okay to center yourself and your needs and advocate for yourself and be the center of your own story and be the best self for yourself, so you can offer — in reasonable doses, and as you see fit — parts of you to other people,” she said, adding, “We say in our family and in our crew, ‘We all we got.’ Start with you first.”

The Rock

For PEOPLE’s 2016 Sexiest Man Alive Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, self-care means protecting “your anchor.”

“The world is loud and noisy, and pulls at us from a million different directions,” Johnson wrote in a post to Instagram in November. “Find your anchor ⚓️ that helps you recalibrate your soul and protect it at all cost. After all these years I’ve finally learned the importance of self care. Be good to yourselves, protect your anchor, and have a great weekend 👊🏾🥃 And do fun s— 😉.”

Jennifer Lopez

While celebrating the launch of her lower-calorie alcohol line Delola in 2023, Jennifer Lopez told PEOPLE, “For me, [a] healthy lifestyle is about self-care: Working out regularly with some consistency, taking care of your skin.”

She says when she starts feeling off, she’s sure to “check the basics” which include getting enough sleep, drinking enough water as well as meditating and “taking care of your mind, your body, your soul.”

The basics “always work. They’re the fundamentals of any sport or anything that you do,” she said.

Megan Thee Stallion

Ahead of her 2023 appearance at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in 2023, Megan Thee Stallion told PEOPLE she was “doing a better job of prioritizing self-care.”

“Sometimes society places too much emphasis on hustle culture and not enough focus on physical and mental health. It’s a balance, so that’s why I’m making certain adjustments to my routine and I want to let my Hotties know that it’s acceptable to reset and recharge when necessary,” she said, referencing her fans.

The adjustments she made included “setting more boundaries” as well as “carving out more time for myself. When I’m taking a self-care day I’m usually journaling, praying, spending time with my dogs, working out, binging my favorite shows and just doing activities that make me happy.”

Sydney Sweeney

As it turns out, a dog is not just man’s best friend — it’s also Sydney Sweeney’s self-care secret weapon.

“My dog, Tank, really is so important in my own self-care process,” Sweeney told PEOPLE in 2024. “Whether it is just playing with her, taking her to the dog park or taking her on a walk, it just lets me take a moment and unplug from everything else.”

Another way she decompresses is curling up with a book: “Usually I’m reading. I love to read.”

And finally, you might find her at the gym burning off some steam: “I love to work out,” she said, calling out Solidcore as a favorite.

Idris and Sabrina Elba

For PEOPLE’s 2018 Sexiest Man Alive Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Elba, self care is a two-person sport.

“When we can get up at the same time and someone doesn’t have to be up super early, it’s really nice, because we can get into the shower and enjoy that moment, have a coffee together, which doesn’t feel like it happens enough, unfortunately,” Sabrina told PEOPLE in June 2024. “I think selfless self-care when it’s with community and your partner and with anyone feels really nice.”

Mandy Moore

Ahead of welcoming baby no. 3 in Sept. 2024, Mandy Moore told PEOPLE that “taking the best care of myself… looks different on a daily basis.”

“I am getting sleep, if I’m drinking water, if I’m eating well, if I’m moving my body, if things feel particularly not stressful at home and everything’s good with the family, I feel like it all just shows itself in what you present to the world,” she added. 

“So that’s when I feel my best, and there’s some sort of combination of those things happening, hopefully, all at the same time, not necessarily all at once, but so I’ll take it when I can get it.”

Drew Barrymore

A few years back, Drew Barrymore reflected on the challenge of maintaining a self-care routine while caring for small children. But no matter how busy things get, she said, she’s sure to find time to exercise.

“There is no self-care when you have small children — it’s really hard and it feels like an unwinnable battle,” she told PEOPLE in 2021. “I guess I try to carve out some exercise here and there, because I have the propensity to blow up like a balloon and I have no metabolism, and so the self-care for me is a workout.”

Andie MacDowell

Andie MacDowell says that after years of imparting her self-care principles to her three kids Margaret, Rainey and Justin Qualley, they now sometimes have to remind their mom to take her own advice.

“It’s so funny because a lot of the lessons that I taught them, they bring back to me. So, they will repeat to me things that I’ve said to them [like], ‘No negative talk. Don’t say anything derogatory about yourself,'” she told PEOPLE in November 2023.

“We all really are good about taking care of ourselves,” she adds. “We exercise every day. We all do yoga. We take really good care of ourselves. A lot of self-care messages, I think that I gave to them, they repeat back to me if I’m ever blue, or if I’m having a hard time.”