J.Lo turned the big 4-0 on Friday, warranting not one, but two extravagant parties at New York’s Edison Ballroom and Hotel Griffou. Husband Marc Anthony planned the events, attended by Leah Remini, Liza Minnelli, and Gayle King. The singer and actress turned 40 on July 24, and remains plenty busy with her 1-year-old twins and recording her latest studio album, scheduled for release in January 2010.
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Steffi Graf turned 40 on June 14, and the famed tennis player—the only woman ever to win all four Grand Slam titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same year (nicknamed the “Golden Slam”)—returned to Wimbledon for one of the first times this year since retiring in 1999, although she lost both the singles and mixed doubles exhibition matches. Since leaving the sport, Graf has raised two children with husband Andre Agassi.
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The Aussie actress turned 40 on May 14 and in her most recent film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, tested the talents of makeup artists by aging her character from a twentysomething all the way up to 80.
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It seems like the public has endured decades of Heche’s brand of cuckoo (even her own memoir was titled Call Me Crazy) and it turns out…they actually have! The former Men in Trees headliner turned 40 on May 25 and her career’s as hot as someone half her age. Along with starring in HBO’s newest hit Hung, Heche seduces (or is seduced by) Ashton Kutcher in a sorta-cougarish turn in the upcoming film Spread.
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The perennial bachelorette hit the big four-zero on February 11 of this year, in what we’re sure wasn’t a reminder that her biological clock is ticking. The rumor that she was dating He’s Just Not That Into You costar Bradley Cooper lasted shorter than it takes to say the film title, but don’t fret, Aniston’s doing OK. She was nominated for an Emmy this year for her guest-starring turn in 30 Rock.
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The Welsh actress has been plagued for years by whispers that she lies about her age. But according to all (well, almost all) sources, Zeta-Jones is turning 40 on September 25. Besides, if she were lying, that would ruin the cutesy fact that husband Michael Douglas is, to the day, exactly 25 years her senior. Ah, young love.
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It’s almost impossible to believe the No Doubt frontwoman is turning 40 this year—might she channel this momentous occasion in their comeback album?—but her milestone birthday is on October 3. And Stefani is the definition of a hot punk mom—she kept the rock-hard abs even after giving birth to her second child in August of last year.
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It’s only midway through the year, but 2009 has been off to a fabulous start for the actress, who celebrated her 40th on April 25. Harvard University awarded her the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award and it was recently announced that a third film chronicling fan-favorite alter ego Bridget Jones is in development.
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The longtime Calvin Klein model celebrated her 40th birthday on January 2, and is celebrating her fifth decade by studying for a master’s degree at Columbia University. She of the perfect cheekbones began modeling at age 14 and made a return to school recently, studying public health and also producing the documentary No Woman, No Cry about pregnant mothers in developing countries.
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The New Zealand-born model isn’t celebrating her birthday until September 6, but has had plenty of drama to occupy her time until then. She began dating hockey player Jarret Stoll after her divorce from Rod Stewart became final in 2006, but her engagement to Stoll was called off by her fiancé last month. Hunter is reportedly “majorly freaked” to be turning 40 and is moving back to New Zealand for a short while.
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It seems like just yesterday when Nancy Kerrigan was skating behind Kristi Yamaguchi in the Winter Olympics (it was actually 1992). After her retirement in 1994, Kerrigan, who turns 40 on October 13, participated in various skating shows, and has raised her three children—the most recent born last year—with her agent and husband, Jerry Solomon.
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Ellen Pompeo, born November 10, 1969, might be the Grey’s Anatomy star with the least amount of drama (no Katherine Heigl-style outbursts here). She married her boyfriend, record producer Chris Ivery, in 1997, and three months ago the two announced they were expecting their first child.
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Julie Delpy’s latest film was 2 Days in Paris alongside actor Adam Goldberg, and the almost-40-year-old (her birthday is on December 21) is taking time off from film roles to be with her son, Leo, born in Feburary 2009.
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