In 79 fabulous years, she looked death in the eye countless times and lived to tell the tale.

But yesterday, after a life as dramatic as any movie script, Elizabeth Taylor’s battle was over.

She died of heart failure in hospital, with her four children at her side. And when the New York Times paid tribute to Hollywood’s last movie goddess, it had to admit that Miss Taylor had actually outlived the obituary writer by six years.

The Oscar-winning actress spent the final six weeks of her life at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. She had been admitted after her weight plummeted to less than 98lb and the heart failure diagnosed in 2004 threatened to overwhelm her.

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If you read this column, it’s likely you have a lot in common with Julia Roberts. She’s over 40 (42), she’s incredibly busy, and she’s got a bunch of kids. Her metabolism is slowing just like the rest of ours, and after two pregnancies, her shape doesn’t bounce back as fast as it might have a decade ago. Still, she’s got a body a 30-year-old would kill for.

To find out how she does it, I spoke with her trainer, Kathy Kaehler. “Julia likes step aerobics so to modify her workout in her 40s, I ramped up the intensity by adding two-pound dumbbells,” she said. “The extra weight pushes her heart to work harder so she burns more calories in the same amount of time — and the resistance helps maintain muscle in her upper body. It also helps that for all the years I have known Julia, whether I am working with her or not, she finds the time to make exercise a priority.”

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A drug to treat diabetes, Actos, would be a “sensible alternative” to one which was banned last year, researchers have said.

Avandia, also known as rosiglitazone, was suspended by authorities in Europe, but is still available in the United States and Canada.

The study published on the BMJ website said patients taking Actos had fewer heart problems.

Diabetes UK said Actos was a very effective treatment.

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Kylie Minogue has told an Australian TV programme about her “rotten, dark moments” after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005.

The 42-year-old broke down in tears as she told the Sunday Night programme about how she coped with the disease.

Kylie Minogue celebrated five years of being given the all-clear at the end of February.

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A 45-minute catnap helps lower blood pressure, American researchers reported last week. They said a daytime snooze could improve heart health, particularly if you’re not getting as much sleep as you should at night.

This follows a recent six-year Greek study which found that people who took a 30-minute siesta at least three times a week appeared to have a 37 per cent lower risk of heart-related death.

The theory is that napping, by encouraging you to relax, reduces blood pressure.

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Actor Charlie Sheen has been fired from the hit US sitcom Two and a Half Men by Warner Bros Television.

The studio said it had acted after “careful consideration”. The news comes amid a frenzy of US media reports on Sheen’s controversial personal life.

No decision has been made on the future of the television series, a spokesman for Warner Bros said on Monday.

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To perk you up or calm you down, nothing fits the bill better than a refreshing cuppa. But with so many different types promising health benefits, which one should you choose?

BEST FOR SKIN: WHITE

White tea — which is made from only the delicate buds of the tea plant — has the highest levels of antioxidants, which protect against harmful free radicals. Researchers from Kingston University in Surrey found white tea also had high amounts of substances that protect elastin and collagen, proteins in our skin that maintain skin elasticity.

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Most of us suffer from moments of memory loss — walking into a room and forgetting what you were looking for or grasping for the name of the person you have just bumped into on the street.

You could be suffering from brain anaemia, according to psychologist Jane G. Goldman.

She’s not talking about the nutritional condition caused by a lack of iron: she means a lack of new experiences and mental challenges that the brain needs to keep it in tip-top condition.

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If you’re eyeing up your breakfast options and fancy going to work on an egg, there’s no need to hold back.

For after years of telling us to shun them as an everyday food, the health police now say that eggs have become better for us.

The cholesterol content of eggs – which was previously believed to be a health risk – is now much lower compared with ten years ago, a study suggests.

Eggs also contain more vitamin D, which helps protect the bones, preventing diseases such as osteoporosis and rickets.

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This is the first peek of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s daughter Faith Margaret.

The couple recently announced the birth of the baby, who was born via a surrogate.

And last night Urban couldn’t resist showing a picture of his bundle of joy to camera crews at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

Revealing the picture of mother and daughter on his iPhone, country singer Urban cooed: ‘She [Faith Margaret] looks just like her [Nicole], don’t you think?’

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