Sheryl Lee Ralph Reveals Why She Slimmed Down Without Weight-Loss Drugs: 'If That Would've Worked, I Would Have' (Exclusive)
The 'Abbott Elementary' star gets candid about focusing on her health and overhauling her lifestyle
Sheryl Lee Ralph credits her youthful appearance to a positive attitude and taking care of herself.
“The whole idea of being forever young is mental, physical and spiritual. I wear my joy,” the Abbott Elementary star, 69, says in PEOPLE's cover story.
Still, Ralph admits, she recently kicked her healthy lifestyle into high gear for multiple reasons. “On Abbott the cameras are all around,” she says of filming the ABC hit. “One time I got a shot of my behind, and I was like, ‘Oh, hell no!’”
Later, when she went to the doctor for a checkup, "the doctor said, ‘You are obese on the inside,’” she says. “I said, ‘What?’”
Despite a number of popular weight-loss drugs on the market, Ralph says she opted to slim down without medication. "I don't judge," she says of those who turn to the drugs to help lose weight.
"If that would have worked for me, I would have," she adds. "I would do anything to have the best health I possibly could."
But her doctor's orders were simple. “He said, ‘Change the way you eat, work out, drink water,’ ” Ralph says. “When the doctors tell you that stuff, you've got to do it. Because there are certain things like fresh air, sunlight, those are very good medicines. Very good medicines."
She continues, "Your health is your greatest wealth, and too many of us do not pay attention to it until it’s gone.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
To top off her new look, her daughter Ivy Maurice aka "Coco," a stylist, is in charge of her wardrobe. “She is helping me rise out of the ashes like a phoenix of fashion and style,” Ralph says proudly.
And don't expect any other extreme changes from Ralph any time soon. "My face is my face," she says of why she's never entertained thoughts of plastic surgery. "That's my choice. Anybody else wants to do anything to their face and it works for you? Do you."
But, she says, "Who knows. That might change when I'm 80... I tell anybody, 'Do what you need to do for yourself. You want that filler, baby? Get filler. You want that shot, baby, get that shot. You need that facelift, honey, go on, get that facelift. You feel good about yourself? Good. That's what matters.' I'm not their judge."
Read the original article on People
