Lionel Richie credits his seemingly ageless appearance to sleep, sweat and sex — despite plastic surgery rumors.
The 73-year-old singer shared some of his best anti-aging techniques with the Daily Mail over the weekend, joking that he would never go under the knife because “that s—t goes wrong!”
“[Plastic surgery] locks you in for that year [while you recover] and after that, you can’t go naturally, you’re staying right there … You try and go back to reset, and you can’t,” he told the outlet.
Instead, Richie focuses on “water, sleep, and sweat” and doesn’t eat “too much red meat.”
“I know it’s real boring. [Sex] will work also and it’s good for your heart,” the iconic crooner, who has been dating 33-year-old model Lisa Parigi for more than a decade, added.
The clarification comes after social media users focused more on his looks rather than his performance at King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday.
“Lionel Richie’s face looks more fake than the clay fan the blind woman was sculpting in his ‘Hello’ video!” one user wrote.
“Lionel Richie has really messed up his face …. why do these people do that to themselves? They never look any younger they just look odd,” another added.
“WTF was his plastic surgeon doing?” a third person tweeted alongside a photo of Richie on stage. “Training or experimenting with new stuff? I would hope Lionel Richie didn’t pay for that new face.”
However, Richie — who became friends with the king after doing some work with the Prince’s Trust — revealed he and Charles, 74, even have an ongoing joke about his youthful appearance.
“He says, ‘How do you look the way you look and I look the way I look?’ and I say, ‘You come to Hollywood and I can help you’,” he told the BBC.
Despite some viewers’ reactions, the royal family seemed to love Richie’s performance — especially Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The two young royals were spotted dancing and waving English flags as they rocked out to “All Night Long” alongside parents Kate Middleton and Prince William.
In addition to Richie, the lineup also featured Katy Perry, Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and Take That.
Soon after the performers took the stage, Charles and Queen Camilla made a surprise cameo on “American Idol” alongside the two judges.
The competition show opened with a video of Richie and Perry talking about the “incredible” coronation concert, before stepping aside as Charles and Camilla joined them inside Windsor Castle.
“I just wanted to check how long you’ll be using this room for,” the king jokingly asked.
The new monarch went on to praise Perry and Richie’s “brilliant” and “wonderful” performances.
