Michele Pfeiffer: Then and Now

"I have to work at it..."

"There are women who just genetically have beautiful bodies-it seems to us they don't have to work out. I personally have to work at it," the star says of her famous physique. "I'm doing all the right things. I do cardio and strength training, a little bit of weights. I mix it up, but I can't push myself the way I used to."

THEN: On the set of Bad Cats, 1980.
NOW: ON the set of her InStyle cover shoot, 2009.

MORE! Try On Michelle Pfeiffer's Hair

"I'm 50 and everyone knows I'm 50."

"I can't wear a skirt that's too short anymore. It's not that my legs are bad, it just look silly," Pfeiffer says when asked how she dresses her age. "I feel less pressure to dress youthfully. I'm 50 and everyone knows I'm 50-who are you kidding? Jeans are my uniform. I have about 15 pairs."

THEN: On the Emmys red carpet, 1994.
NOW: ON the set of her InStyle cover shoot, 2009.

MORE! Michelle Pfeiffer's Transformation

"My performance still matters to me."

Twenty years after shooting Dangerous Liasons on location in Paris, Pfeiffer returned to make the film Cheri. "amp#91;My characteramp#93; is a woman of immense dignity, an incredibly kind honorable person. I love that," Pfeiffer says of playing an aging courtesan in Cheri. "To incorporate all the nuance of the character and the relationship is a challenge. Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself."

THEN: Playing Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liasons, 1998.
NOW: Playing Lea de Lonval in Cheri, 2009.

MORE! Movie amp TV Fashion

"Armani never lets me down."

"Simple is always best," says Pfeiffer of her favorite clothes. "I've worn Armani for years-he never lets me down. His lines are always right and the fabric hangs just so." The actress has been friends with the Italian designer for more than 20 years and even served as the face of an Armani Spring/Summer ad campaign in 2005.

THEN: With Giorgio Armani, 2000.
NOW: At the premiere of Hairspray (in Armani), 2008.

MORE! Stars Who Love Armani

"It's harder to go back to work."

"When my daughter turned 15 it hit me how little time I had left with her at home. It becomes harder and harder for me to go back to work," says Pfeiffer, who lives far from the L.A. spotlight in northern California with husband David E. Kelley and kids Claudia Rose and John Henry. "I still care about my work, but my plate is just so full with everything else. It's got to be something I really, really want to do in order for me to pack up and leave."

THEN: With Tom Cruise at the Golden Globes, 1990.
NOW: With husband David E. Kelley, son John Henry and daughter Claudia Rose, 2007.

MORE! See Michelle Pfeiffer's February 2002 InStyle Cover