She wore that iconic red bathing suit on TV nearly 25 years ago as one of the stars of “Baywatch,” playing the role of Lt. Stephanie Holden. Now, at the age of 52, Alexandra Paul looks as fit as ever and is ready to share her secrets about her healthy lifestyle. Paul will speak in Malibu this Saturday, April 9, at Malibu Living in Point Dume Plaza from 11 a.m. to noon.
Paul, who has starred in more than 70 movies and television shows, is now also a certified health and wellness coach.
“I’m so excited about helping people get more fit and feel better about themselves,” she shared with The Malibu Times. She explained that she will focus her talk Saturday on how to break bad habits and make healthy new ones, which she said is one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle.
“I’m really interested in the psychology and science of breaking bad habits because 40 percent of our daily life is made up of habits,” Paul said. “So if we could have more good than bad habits, we could be healthier.”
Paul explained that as a coach she helps clients reach their goals when they cannot do it by themselves.
“Most people know they need to eat right and move more, but they don’t know how to motivate themselves to actually do it,” Paul said. “They feel overwhelmed trying to integrate exercise and healthy eating into their busy lives. It feels like it’s all too much. But with my help, they can.”
Most of her clients are women in their 40s and 50s. Paul says she understands “the challenge of maintaining fitness with changing bodies.”
Losing weight seems to be the most common issue that Paul said her clients are dealing with and many of them are facing the same challenges too — not eating healthfully and not having (or making) the time to exercise.
It’s Paul’s exercise regimen that she credited with enabling her to compete in the Malibu Nautica Triathlon many times. She holds the record for the fastest female celebrity. She and her husband, triathlon coach Ian Murray, competed in the event the day after their wedding in 2000.
Paul has also conquered the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Hawaii. That grueling event consists of a nearly two-and-a-half-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon. She finished in 13:18:52.
These days, Paul said she is focusing on endurance swimming and has competed in distance races in Key West, Mexico, Hawaii and Fiji. She said each race gets longer because she wants to show people that “just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to slow down.” She also said she stays fit with yoga and weight training for flexibility and strength.
While still acting, Paul spends hours each week helping others. As a volunteer, the actress has been working with Food Not Bombs, cooking for and feeding the homeless in Santa Monica. She laughed while describing how she does not cook at home much, but cooks for 100 people once per week.
Along with charity work, Paul is a well-known activist for causes ranging from women’s rights and animal rights to voting. She has a TEDx talk online concerning over-population. She said she has been jailed twice for civil disobedience, protesting against the Iraq War and nuclear war.
As an advocate for clean energy, the longtime vegan has been driving an electric car since 1990. In 2005, she was honored by the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union as Activist of the Year.
While the “Baywatch” TV series is long since gone, a new movie is in the works starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron. The part of Lt. Stephanie Holden will be played by another actress.
“I had a wonderful time on the show and can’t wait for ‘Baywatch’ to be brought to a whole new generation,” Paul shared.
She can currently be seen on the web in the comedy series “Mentor,” for which she earned a best supporting actress award. Also look for Paul in the upcoming “Sharknado 4.”
Paul summed up her wellness with, “I’ve never been one to say I was born naturally healthy and fit. I believe it takes work, but it doesn’t have to be as hard and out of reach as people may think if they have the right tools. It does take work, but it doesn’t have to be torture either.
“I know that when my health and fitness are on track and I feel good about the body I’m in, I feel my life just goes better, easier.”
Call 310.457.0929 to reserve a free spot at Paul’s event in Malibu.
