What do the following stars and celebrities have in common?

They all turned 50 this month, but as far as wear and tear goes, they couldn’t vary more! Along with Barbie and the Mini Cooper, these five celebs have reached their half century this year, some are showing signs of rust and metal fatigue but most are up there with Barbie, born in March 1959!

Take Marie Osmond for example. Born on October 13 1959, mother of eight children (5 adopted), business woman, singer, dancer and children’s activist, she has combined a full, and sometimes troubled life, with keeping fit, remaining slim and generally looking years younger than her half century would suggest.

Then there’s Mr Nasty, Simon Cowell. If the good die young, Simon should be with us for at least another 50 years, based on his venomous attacks as a judge on both American Idol and X Factor. Having celebrated his 50th birthday on October 9th, with a rawcuss birthday bash that on all accounts resembled the bar scene from Star Wars, Cowell still manages to maintain his youthful, cheeky boy appearance that totally belies his actual age.

And speaking of venom spitting celebrities, another lady reaching her 50th this month is the vixen of TV, American born courtside commentator, Nancy Grace.

Known for her no frills, ‘tell it as you see it’, approach to criminals, crime and interviews, in her work as a prosecutor Nancy mainly focused on serial murders, serial rapes, child molestation and arson and achieved a one hundred percent success rate in her convictions.

Being the mother of fraternal twins, Lucy and John, on November 4, 2007, certainly hasn’t taken its toll on Nancy and her beauty regime and constant ability to look fresh faced on her primetime, CNN Headline News Program!

However, there are those who have not fared so well in their 50 years on this earth, at least in the looks department. Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse reaches his mile stone birthday today, October 15th. The portly chef could well be accused of eating all the pies, cookies, soufflés, profiteroles and Cajun and Creole dishes in his kitchen and although he takes great pride in his culinary skills, his appearance leaves a lot to be desired.

But the one lady who has perhaps lead the most charmed life of all the celebrities who have reached the big 50 this month is the one who has definitely come out looking the worse for wear.

The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, celebrates her 50th birthday today and has been a member of the British Royal family, and the daughter in law of Queen Elizabeth II, since 1986 during which time she has battled with press intrusion, her weight and more failures in the business world than Bernie Madoff.

The mother of two princesses, Eugenie and Beatrice, Sarah has probably had more opportunities to utilize her position and visit stylists, beauty and hair salons and spas than any other celebrity reaching 50 this year, but it seems evident from recent photographs of the ex wife of Prince Andrew, which see her resembling a sack of spuds tied in the middle, that she has avoided those emporiums more vehemently than she has avoided her ex mother in law, The Queen!