Christie Brinkley turned 70 on February 2 with a huge grin, photos of herself looking strong and fit, and a sweet poem. “Looking in the mirror on my 70th birthday and what do I see, I’m finally happy with the person looking back at me,” she wrote. “I’m no longer critical and demanding; now I’m grateful and understanding.”

The famed former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model refuses to buy into the old-fashioned notion that her best days are behind her. “If you take good care of yourself, and you eat right, and you exercise, and you have a good mental attitude — lots of laughter, lots of curiosity, lots of adventures — that keeps you young,” Christie says.

She used to stress more about the lines in her face, but now Christie focuses on maintaining a healthy skincare routine, including sunblock. “I’m kind of more comfortable just letting it be,” says Christie, who only uses occasional injectables around her mouth and twice-annual skin-resurfacing treatments to combat the hands of time. “I want to accept certain wrinkles. That’s the way I’m approaching aging,” she says.

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Beyond self-care and a good attitude, Christie believes in eating right and daily exercise. She’s a fan of cycling — which is gentle on the knees — as well as strength training and lots of stretching. “She wakes up early and stretches right away,” confides a friend to Closer exclusively, who adds that Christie also likes to include long walks and yoga into her day. “Having aches and pains in places you never had before isn’t fun, but she’s far from slowing down.”

This long-time vegetarian adheres to a “rainbow diet,” consisting of every color of vegetable and fruit to keep her energy high. “For lunch, I go into greens and do a salad, then add a protein like a bean or nuts,” she says. “Dinner is more of the same, except maybe I’ll put my vegetables on a bean pasta, rice, grain or quinoa.”

She recently added superfoods, including mushroom coffee and matcha tea powder, to her diet. “I have a real awareness of how food is fuel,” says Christie, who adds that she feels she’s reaped “good karma” from avoiding meat for so many years. “It’s really important for people to think about at least not eating meat a few days a week, if that’s all you can do, because it’s so, so much better for you but also for our planet.”

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Joy From Within

As she hits a new milestone, the four-times divorced star has also become more comfortable with herself. “I always said my whole life that I think that you have to be happy alone so that you get with a man for the right reasons,” says Christie, whose last high-profile romance was with John Mellencamp in 2015. “She’s still open to finding love, but she says a good man is hard to find,” says the friend. “If a nice man enters her life at this stage, she’ll take it, but he has to be pretty special for her to commit.”

Christie is happiest when she’s surrounded by her three children and friends who make every day a sweet adventure — whether at her longtime home in New York’s Hamptons or her beachfront estate in Turks and Caicos. “Age is just a state of mind, so I just don’t think about it,” says Christie. “I just want to get up and out into every day.”