stopped during her pregnancies, then resumed intermittently a few years later. “I had a genetic predisposition,” Carter says, “as many, many, many people do. And I drank against my will. I can honestly say you are staring into an abyss while sitting on the precipice. And you think you’re

the only one, and that you have some fatal flaw.”

In recent years, she has confirmed tabloid rumors that she checked into rehab and relapsed six months later in 1998. But as she enters a second decade of sobriety, she seems more comfortable about discussing her

Lynda Carter still looks trim, slim and sexy at 56. Here she shares some of her—

and her octogenarian parents’—fitness and diet tips.

+ “I’m always looking for new things to do in my workout, because I get bored.

Lately, I’ve been doing crew, rowing down the Potomac River in front of the

Kennedy Center. I love this sport.

+ “I also ski and play tennis, and I recently got a very cool bike. When traveling,

I take my jump-rope and elastic straps that help me do push-ups and curls.

It’s like the Jack Lalanne Glamour Stretcher my mom worked out with!

+ “My dad is 86, and he still works part-time and works out every day.

He walks six miles a day, and he stretches and does push-ups. He’s in

great health.

+ “My mom was always a big salad eater. We’ve always eaten nutritiously, and

love home cooking. Eat foods that fuel your body, and skip those with empty

calories. Also, eat more slowly; think of the flavors. Put your fork down.

Taste the food.

+ “It’s all about portion control, portion control, portion control. I have a better

relationship with food now, but I struggle with my weight. I’ve been up 20 lb

and down. But I don’t think you should deprive yourself. If you want to have

a brownie, have one—just don’t have one every day.”

disease. “I didn’t want to be the poster girl when I first went into recovery,” Carter says. “I didn’t want to be defined by it. It was such an agonizing time anyway, and you need to heal, and you need to heal your family.”

Carter checked into Father Martin’s Ashley treatment center in Maryland—and now sits on its board of directors. “It was like going back to school,” she says of her time living at the nonprofit rehab. “I was learning about my disease and looking around and realized that everyone else there —from the counselors to the handyman—was in recovery.

I realized I was just like all of them. I’ve learned so much about relying on the wisdom of others and asking for help.”

Among the many life-affirming lessons she’s learned: to embrace her inner goddess, no matter what. “I think it’s more about me feeling good about myself rather than having to depend on what other people think,” Carter concedes. “What other people think is still important to me; I want people to like me. But my habit is to worry about everybody and forget myself. It’s a problem because you always feel if they knew the real you they wouldn’t like you very much. But you’re so busy looking at others that you’re not looking at yourself. Recovery and years of therapy have taught me this!”

As she reaches 57 this July, Carter can look in the mirror and connect with a powerful Wonder Woman she never fully appreciated, even when donning those butt-kicking, knee-high red boots, bullet-reflecting bracelets and eagle-breasted bustier.

“I’m more comfortable in my own skin now,” she says. “Because, you know what? It’s my life.”