Aunt May Actress Marisa Tomei, 61, Says “I Don’t Even Go to the Gym” and Shares What Helps Her Feel Good

Marisa Tomei, 61, has an Oscar, a decade as Aunt May in Marvel films and a calendar full of new projects. She also has a confession about her fitness routine. “I don’t even go to the gym,” she told PEOPLE. What she does instead is a short list, and most of it will sound familiar, though the way she ranks it may not.

Tomei Juggles Spider-Man Flashbacks, an HBO Lead Role and Two Films in One Busy Year

Tomei’s calendar is crowded. Her return as May Parker in flashbacks in Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived this summer, and she holds a lead role in the second season of HBO’s War. Two more films are on deck: The Mongoose, with Liam Neeson, and the horror movie Hellhound, with Sam Rockwell. Tomei called it a busy year. Asked how she keeps up, she began with an answer that costs nothing.

Tomei’s First Wellness Rule Is Sleep: “I Like a Lot of Sleep”

The first item on her list is sleep. “I like a lot of sleep!” she told PEOPLE. Research gives her a reason: a Case Western Reserve-affiliated clinical trial of 60 women ages 30 to 49 found poor sleepers showed more signs of skin aging and slower recovery from skin stressors. The study was commissioned by Estée Lauder. Sleep is only the starting point, and the second habit on her list requires leaving the house.

Tomei Needs Time in Nature and Became Interested in Meditation as a Teenager

Tomei says she needs time in nature, and her interest in inner wellness goes back to her teens. She has told Vogue that meditation and grounding helped her as a teenager, and she still hikes and does calisthenics and yoga now and then. “The cornerstone of it all is the inner stuff,” she said, according to Hello! magazine. Between the sleep and the outdoor time, one item is conspicuously missing from her week.

Tomei Swaps the Gym for Walking, and a 57-Study Analysis Links 7,000 Daily Steps to Lower Death Risk

That missing item is the gym. Tomei favors “functional movement, like walking.” The term describes exercise that mirrors real-life motion, such as squatting, lunging, pushing and pulling. The research on walking is encouraging: a Lancet Public Health analysis of 57 studies found that 7,000 daily steps was linked to a 47 percent lower risk of death from any cause than 2,000 steps. None of it requires a membership, though one part of her routine does come with a price tag.

Tomei’s Terra Mare Brand Sells Morning Restore, a Powder Built to Take No Thought

That part is Terra Mare, the supplement company she started. PEOPLE says she co-founded it, while the brand’s own materials name Tomei as founder. Its flagship, Morning Restore, is described by PEOPLE as a collagen powder with vitamins, prebiotics and probiotics. A company press release says the product won a gold award at the Nourish Awards in December 2025. Tomei says the lineup takes little thought, and she built it in response to long-standing pressure on women.

Tomei Says Letting Go of Perfectionism Has Been a Big Part of Her Life

Tomei named that pressure herself: perfectionism. She told PEOPLE she wanted products that would not start “another cycle of chasing perfectionism.” Slowing down, remembering simplicity and letting go of perfectionism, she said, have been a big part of her life. The philosophy runs through both her business and her daily habits. She also traces one more habit to her childhood, to meals at home in New York City.

Tomei Traces Her Wellness Mindset to Daily Family Meals Her Working Mother Made

Growing up in Brooklyn, Tomei says her mother kept working while making a meal for the family every day, and everyone sat down together. That routine, she told PEOPLE, became “built into my nervous system.” Research points in her direction: a Gallup analysis spanning 142 countries linked more shared meals with higher wellbeing, with a bigger gain for people living alone. Not every piece of her routine has research this strong behind it.

Collagen Powders Show Modest Skin Benefits in Small Trials, and the FDA Does Not Pre-Approve Supplements

Collagen powders sit in more contested territory. A 2021 review of 19 studies covering 1,125 people, mostly women, found fewer wrinkles and better skin elasticity and hydration among users, though trials tend to be small. The FDA states that it cannot approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are sold. Terra Mare’s marketing describes Morning Restore around microalgae and mushrooms, so label details matter. The research on her free habits tells a different story.

Marisa Tomei’s Routine Leans on Sleep, Walking, Nature, Shared Meals and Less Perfectionism

Tomei’s routine holds five ingredients: sleep, walking, time in nature, shared meals and a deliberate effort to ease off perfection. Studies on sleep, steps and shared meals point toward benefits, while the evidence for supplements remains modest and mixed. Her calendar shows the routine coexisting with a Marvel return, an HBO lead role and two upcoming films. At 61, Tomei presents consistency as the entire plan, and no gym membership is part of it.