Kelly Bensimon opened the Melissa Odabash show looking her absolute best.
Ahead of strutting down the runway in a sexy bikini on Friday, May 30, during Miami Swim Week, Bensimon exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about modeling in her 50s and how she got in shape for the catwalk. “This is such a huge honor to be walking in swim week,” the Real Housewives of New York City alum gushed to Us, noting it was her good friend Melissa Odabash’s 25th anniversary show. “I thought I kept retiring from modeling [but] I keep coming back.”
“I am old, by the way,” Bensimon told Us, sharing she was “super, super nervous” to open the show. “I haven’t walked in a show in a long time, and this isn’t walking in a show. This is walking in my best friend’s show, so I’m really nervous because I want to do the best for her.”
Bensimon also gushed that Odabash’s designs are one for the ages. “One thing that I love about her is that her designs are not only designs that I love to wear, but my daughters love to. And so if I’m wearing it, my daughters are stealing it,” she laughed. (Kelly is the mom of daughters Sea, 27, and Teddy, 25, whom she shares with Gilles Bensimon.)
While she was feeling butterflies before stepping on the stage, Kelly is no stranger to modeling as she’s grown older. At 40 years old in 2010, she graced the cover of Playboy, which she recalled as an “amazing” experience. “If you have psoriasis and you’ve been hiding your skin all your life, I think that being able to show off all your imperfections at 40 years old, especially on the cover of Playboy, is a huge deal,” Kelly reminisced.
When it comes to confidence and embracing her body, Kelly got candid about feeling insecure, proving she really is just like Us. “I’ve had so many insecurities,” she admitted. “I wish I could sit here and be like, ‘I am so gorgeous,’ but I just do not see myself like that at all.”
She continued, “I only see myself as pretty. I just never thought of myself like that. I don’t talk like that, honestly.”
Although Kelly has her self-doubts like the rest of Us, she is also a champion of the mantra that wellness comes from within. “If your mindset is not geared towards feeling well, you’re just not going to feel well,” she told Us.
To prepare for the runway, Kelly hired trainer, Joao Martins, and started weightlifting. “I’ve never been in better shape in my entire life,” she hyped herself up. “I have a six pack. After menopause, it’s really difficult to feel good about yourself and weightlifting has been so great.”
Kelly took her health seriously by getting IV treatments with peptides that can help promote regeneration. “The true secret to being beautiful and healthy in your 50s is true NAD [therapy]” she told Us, noting that it maintains cellular health and decreases signs of aging. “It’s the absolute mothership for wellness and cell rejuvenation.”
