Ringo Starr ‘Loves His Life’ and Credits Wife, Sober Living With Keeping Him Young as He Plans Tour

Ringo Starr is turning 85 this summer but he’s got fans in awe of his youthful looks – which is thanks to his strict, ultra healthy lifestyle that he’s followed to the letter for most of his adult life, a source exclusively tells Closer. 

“Ringo loves his life, he feels like the luckiest guy in the world and he wakes up every morning grateful for his life,” the insider says. “He swears his positive outlook and daily gratitude practice help keep him young, he always says he still feels 24 years old in his head.” 

“Of course, his vegetarian diet and the fact that he’s been sober since 1988 have helped a great deal.” 

As the source notes, the octogenarian Beatle wasn’t always the picture of healthy living. Before cleaning up his act and going sober 37 years ago, Ringo claimed he lost entire years of his life to blackouts. 

“It got progressively worse and the blackouts got worse and I didn’t know where I’d been, what I’d done,” he said of his addiction, adding, “I knew I had the problem for years. But it plays tricks with your head. Very cunning and baffling is alcohol.”

After leaving a treatment facility, he put together his All Star band, which he says he absolutely would not have been able to do if he were still boozed up. “There is an absolute connection … [When] I got sober, I had all this time and more energy,” the iconic drummer stated.

Ringo now indulges solely in things that help keep him fit and healthy in both body and mind – yoga, meditation, clean living and good eating. 

“Having his beautiful Bond Girl wife Barbara [Bach] by his side is another thing he credits with his longevity,” the source adds. “She’s just as into the healthy lifestyle as he is. They love to go for walks together and they work out in their gym every day. Cooking up vegetarian meals together with tons of veggies and having their green smoothies with blueberries every morning has been a part of their routine for decades — and it shows, they’re both younger than their years.” 

The songwriter married his second wife, Barbara, 77, in 1981, when he was still in the throes of his addictive and destructive lifestyle. She stuck with him through thick and thin, though, and they now reside happily together in Liverpool, not too far from where Ringo grew up.

With so much energy and life left in him, Ringo, whose birth name is Richard Starkey, is planning a spring tour with his supergroup that currently features Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson. He recently made the turn to country music, releasing Look Up on January 10 and is planning his first live dates in June. 

The insider adds that “performing keeps him young, too.” 

“It’s his passion and still all these years later gives him a huge thrill. He might be in his mid-80s but he still keeps rock’n’roll hours and never gets to bed before midnight.”