Angie Best has said she is “on a mission to make 70 the new 50 for women” as she celebrates the landmark birthday with a swimsuit photoshoot.

The former model and ex-wife of football star George Best was once the personal trainer for US singer Cher and now owns her own gym near her home in Henley-on-Thames.

Angie Best
Angie Best (Hello!/PA)

Best told Hello! magazine: “I’m on a mission to make 70 the new 50 for women.

“Everything has changed. We girls don’t need to shrivel up and disappear into a corner just because we’re a certain age.

“Rest assured, I have no intention of doing so. Like so many women out there, there’s a lot I still want to do.

“And the older I get, the more determined I am to work harder at staying healthy and youthful.

“I want to get to 100 and still look good.”

She said: “I do what’s called ‘functional medicine’, where you look from the inside out.

“If you want to be healthy, you should be in good shape by consuming the right nutrients and supplements and drinking plenty of water. Your body’s like a car and you need to feed it the best food for it to work properly.”

Joining her on the photoshoot with Hello! magazine, Best’s reality TV star son Calum, her only child with Northern Irish footballer George, credited his mother with saving him from a lifestyle of alcohol and drugs which his late father was unable to overcome.

Reflecting on the death of his father, in 2005 at the age of 59, Calum said: “I had so much love for my dad, but he chose the party lifestyle and my mum chose the healthy one.

Calum Best
Angie Best’s son Calum thanked her for the guidance she has given him (Isabel Infantes/PA)

“I’ve done both quite well and although I didn’t listen to her at first and was a bit of a troublemaker, mum showed me that it’s the healthy one that’s best and I’m so grateful to her for that.”

He added: “She’s a great player and always wins. Throughout my life, she’s been that health and wellbeing woman, the absolute master of knowing what to put into your body to make you look and feel the best you can.

“Nobody can believe she’s 70 and it’s all because of her healthy lifestyle.

“Thanks to her, I’m a happier, healthier man. She’s an incredible woman and I feel blessed to have her as my mum.”

Read the full interview with Angie and Calum Best in Hello! magazine, out now.