Leeza Gibbons: Love, Life and "I'm Going to Live to be 100!"

"I'm definitely going to live to be 100," Leeza Gibbons is telling me. "So, if I'm going to be 100, I'm only at the halfway point!"

Ms. Leeza is a breath of fresh air.

 I've known her for years as first an anchor on "Entertainment Tonight" and then host of her own daytime show "Leeza" and PBS's "My Generation."

I catch up with her while she drives through Los Angeles and it's just the mood booster anyone could use on a hot summer morning.

First, congrats are in order. 

"The view from the halfway mark in my life is not bad," says the 54-years-young Leeza. "I just got married in April. I would have never in a million years thought I'd get married again. I never thought I'd be married to someone who is 13 years younger."

Her significant other is Steven Fenton and they wed last April at midnight on the rooftop of the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills where they (sigh) had their first date. The white roses were from the couple's own home.

The guest list was small and only included her three children, Lexi, 21, Troy, 19, and Nathan, 13.

"I'm so comfortable with this relationship in every way. I feel so valued," she says.

Yes, she took the ultimate chance. She met Fenton, a former president of the Beverly Hills Board of Education, when they were set up on a blind date.

It was a really good date.

"Women need to feel valued at every age," she says of why her heart melted. "Women need to hear that we're appreciated for the body we have and the mind we have at the age that we're at right now….and at every point in time."

LEEZA GIBBONS' BEAUTY SECRETS

Of course, since we're here to talk beauty and Leeza knows her stuff. She has her own Sheer Cover makeup line, among other products that really work.

We start with what we wish we never did in the past.

Me: "In the Midwest, we used to tan in the driveway, slathered with Johnson's baby oil and iodine. Insane! I want to send my skin a huge I'm sorry."

Leeza: "I wish I listened to my mother when I was putting on the cocoa butter. Growing up in the south, I wanted to be a bronzed goddess, so that meant a lot of baking on the beach. Now, as women we're so much more self-aware when it comes to our own care."

"It's a spray tan world," jokes Leeza. "The first time I did it was for 'Dancing with the Stars.' You do have to be the girl from Ipanema on that show! In Jimmy Choo shoes!"

LEEZA'S HAIR AND SKIN SECRETS

Leeza is known for her long mane of gorgeous honey colored blonde hair.

"It's so funny because when I was a little girl, my hair was so wimpy and stringy," she says. "My mom took mayo and eggs and wrapped my hair in towels with this gunk. She said, 'Someday, you will have gorgeous hair.'"

She is hooked on the InStyler rotating flat iron created by primo celeb hairstylist Dean Banowetz. It's a combo curling iron and flat iron that's gentle on your hair.

 "I also sell hair extensions on HSN. Never in a million years did I think I would wear clip on hair," she says. "But now I depend on it and wear it five days a week. It's the perfect fix. You can curl it and the shape will hold.

"It's completely bulletproof hair," she says. "And I don't have to use styling tools on my hair as often because I'm using them on my extensions."

Leeza's other product is called Sexy Legs.

"It changed my life. Now, I don't have to say no to my strappy scandals and shorts," she says. "The product takes care of those little broken capillaries and spider veins."

Leeza says that when it comes to skincare that she's "hooked on Cindy Crawford's Meaningful Beauty."

"I love Heidi Klum's line eraser," she says.

She adds, "I'm also very interested in stress and the effect it has on our skin. I'm looking at developing a skincare line focused on stress."

A FEW LIFE LESSONS

Leeza spends a good chunk of her time working with families dealing with memory loss. Her beloved mother Gloria Jean was diagnosed in 1999 with Alzheimer's disease, which led Leeza to create Leeza's Places, a rest and reenergize station for families dealing with the disease.

Leeza is also busy filming a new daily TV series. "It's about making you smarter, stronger, safer and able to make better choices in your life," she says.

"It's a perfect fit for me," she says. "The show is manageable when it comes to my time. I spent 30 years working really hard and I love it.

"I don't know any other way to work," she says.

"But, I think you reach an age where success has a fluid definition. For me, success is directly proportional to having time to do what I need to do," she says.

As for her new life, Leeza just sighs.

"Some of us get everything right early on," she says. "Most of us get it in our own way."

"I think all women and men are just looking for the meaning of life," she says. "I've found that the most important lesson is to find your bliss."

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