The Frida actress, who wowed fans with her holiday snaps late last year, says she has come up with an intense full-body workout to keep in shape.

But to stop mere mortals from feeling inferior, the 54-year-old admits her recent bikini photos were taken at the start of her sunshine break – before she spent the rest of the holiday “pigging out”.

Salma said: “I went on a diet, exercised a lot, went on vacation and took 1,000 ­pictures for the first week.

“Then I pigged out, gained all of the weight back, saved the pictures and put them up two weeks later.

“So I don’t look like that any more. It’s a short window of consistency.

“I like yoga and invented an exercise routine that is five minutes and works my entire body. You are sore the next day but when you are doing it you don’t feel it.”

The mum of one says she loves being middle-aged but admits she finds it harder to challenge herself as she gets older.

I like my numbers,” she said. “I like ­being 54. It’s an accomplishment.

“I hated it when I turned 30 – I had a crisis. But being in my fifties, I love.

“I feel like I have everything. I’m really grateful and feel blessed but I will always be obsessed with evolution and growth.

“It’s like, ‘OK, now you’ve accomplished this, how can you continue to be better and grow in different directions in your life?’

“Sometimes it is very easy when you have it all to stay in the comfort zone.

“As you get older, it gets harder because you get tired. But I think the day you stop, that’s when you get old.”

Salma’s latest screen role in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was a challenge because the Mexican actress did all her own stunts.

“I love fight scenes,” she said. “I do anything I’m allowed to do.

“My favourite one in this movie is one routine where I fight several guys by myself. It was a lot of fun. I also had to do some stunts in the water, which I always love.”

Away from the action, Salma’s family are the centre of her universe.

She shares 13-year-old Valentina with her husband, French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, 59, and wouldn’t be surprised if her daughter follows her into the film ­industry – as a director.

“Either that or she’ll become a lawyer,” Salma said, proudly. “She’s only young but I can tell she has a lot of talent as a writer and director, and also as an actress.

“Then again, she also has musical talent. In just two months she taught herself to play the piano, guitar and ukulele. There are so many avenues open to her.”