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It’s been 26 years since Julia Roberts was first on the cover of PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful issue, and she’s still our favorite pretty woman.

The stunning star is, for a record fifth time, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World – though she can hardly believe it. “I am very flattered,” she tells PEOPLE’s editor-in-chief Jess Cagle in this week’s cover story.
In fact, Roberts is now way ahead of pal George Clooney, who has been PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive twice. Jokes Roberts of the feat, “I’m going to mention that in my Christmas card to the Clooneys this year.” © People Roberts, 49, opens up about her happy 14-year marriage to cinematographer Danny Moder, her life with twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 12, and Henry, 9, and the secrets of her ageless beauty in her interview with Cagle and PEOPLE’s style and beauty director, Andrea Lavinthal.
She thinks the best is yet to come: “I think I’m currently peaking.” © ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI FOR LANCÔME Roberts was just 23 when she first appeared on the cover of the World’s Most Beautiful issue in 1991. The year before, she had skyrocketed to instant fame when she starred in the smash romantic comedy Pretty Woman.But behind the scenes, Roberts reveals, she had no idea how much her life had changed.
“People say, ‘Oh, when Pretty Woman came out it must have really changed your life,’ and it’s kind of become this joke, but the truth is I was out of town when Pretty Woman came out,” she says in the cover story. “I was in another movie in this tiny little town that was showing Star Wars in its first run. I remember reading … ‘Pretty Woman came out this weekend and made this much money’ and I thought, ‘Is that a lot of money? Is that good? Is that great?’ I didn’t really know.”
Danny Moder and Julia Roberts attend the 3rd annual Sean Penn & Friends HELP HAITI HOME Gala benefiting J/P HRO presented by Giorgio Armani at Montage Beverly Hills on January 11, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California.© Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization Danny Moder and Julia Roberts attend the 3rd annual Sean Penn & Friends HELP HAITI HOME Gala benefiting J/P HRO presented by Giorgio Armani at Montage Beverly Hills on January… She reflects on how she found confidence after her “awkward” early years — and how she found her own fairy-tale ending. “I mean every day my husband walks in the door it’s like a recurring dream. I’m like, ‘Ah, he’s back!’ “
People's Most Beautiful: A look back at all the covers: 

  • Slide 1 of 26: <p>Eleven PEOPLE editors decided to put out a list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, taking submissions from readers, fellow staffers and casting directors and modeling agents. Pfeiffer, then 32, received the top honor, though PEOPLE editors wrote they learned three things from the process: "That there is no such thing as perfect beauty. That people have blessedly different ideas about what's beautiful. And that most people are beautiful in some way, and that's about as beautiful as anybody really needs to be."</p>
  • Slide 2 of 26: <p>Editors called the 23-year-old "a Botticelli beauty," and model maven Eileen Ford seconded that superlative. ''She is one of the few new great beauties," she said. "She doesn't look like she's been dragged through the mud like a lot of them now do.''</p>
  • Slide 3 of 26: <p>The actress, then 29, was fresh from her second Oscar win (for Silence of the Lambs) when she appeared on PEOPLE's Most Beautiful issue. Sharing the honor were Mel Gibson, Elizabeth Taylor and Denzel Washington.</p>
  • Slide 4 of 26: <p>Crawford was a mere 27 when the Revlon supermodel (and then-wife of Richard Gere) appeared on the cover. Her fellow cover models were Whitney Houston, Andrew Shue (of Melrose Place) and Catherine Deneuve.</p>
  • Slide 5 of 26: <p>The actress, then 32, was still married to Dennis Quaid and promoting the film When a Man Loves a Woman when she made the cover of PEOPLE's 50 Most Beautiful issue. Daniel Day-Lewis, Toni Braxton and - whoa! - Joey Lawrence (then on Blossom) also appeared on the cover.</p>
  • Slide 6 of 26: <p>No Arquette, no Dirt: She was only 30 (and four years into a romance with Michael Keaton) when her role as Monica Gellar on Friends landed the actress the cover (with Halle Berry and George Clooney).</p>
  • Slide 7 of 26: <p>The actor, then 40, had just earned his Oscar wins for Best Director and Best Picture (for Braveheart) when he appeared on the cover (alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Brad Pitt and Brandy) for a second time.</p>
  • Slide 8 of 26: <p>Cruise was 34 - and still married to Nicole Kidman - when he graced PEOPLE's 50 Most Beautiful cover with Toni Braxton (her second appearance) and Drew Barrymore.</p>
  • Slide 9 of 26: <p>He was the king of the world at 23, starring in the mega-hit Titanic and on the cover of the Most Beautiful issue. Sharing the cover were Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.</p>
  • Slide 10 of 26: <p>The actress was 41 when she graced PEOPLE's cover a second time. Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck also shared it.</p>
  • Slide 11 of 26: <p>Fresh from three hit films - Notting Hill, Runaway Bride and Erin Brockovich - Roberts was only 32 when she appeared on the 2000 cover, alongside George Clooney and Faith Hill.</p>
  • Slide 12 of 26: <p>The new mom (to son Dylan, then 9 months old) was 31 and the star of Traffic when she landed the cover of PEOPLE's 50 Most Beautiful issue, alongside Katie Couric and Benicio Del Toro.</p>
  • Slide 13 of 26: <p>One year after her divorce from Cruise, Kidman, then 34, had just won a Golden Globe Award (and scored an Oscar nod) for Moulin Rouge. Her fellow cover stars were Josh Hartnett and Jennifer Aniston.</p>
  • Slide 14 of 26: <p>The actress, then 36, had just made history as the first-ever African-American actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress (for Monster's Ball,) and was about to reprise her role as Storm in X2: X-Men United when she graced the cover. Also on the cover were Britney Spears and George Clooney (his third appearance!).</p>
  • Slide 15 of 26: <p>The actress talked with PEOPLE about the end of Friends - and her life with then-husband Brad Pitt. Sharing the cover with Aniston, then 35, were Beyoncé, Johnny Depp and Pitt.</p>
  • Slide 16 of 26: <p>The 37-year-old star's twins Hazel and Phinnaeus were just 5 months old when Roberts landed her next WMB cover, which declared her a "Hot Mama!"</p>
  • Slide 17 of 26: <p>Jolie was 30 when she pulled double duty for the cover, which doubled in size from 50 to 100 Most Beautiful. Then pregnant with daughter Shiloh, the actress was named among the world's Most Beautiful, and she, with then-partner Brad Pitt and children Zahara and Maddox, were called the World's Most Beautiful Family.</p>
  • Slide 18 of 26: <p>The newly single star - Barrymore had just split from longtime boyfriend Fabrizio Moretti - appeared on PEOPLE's Most Beautiful cover for the first time at age 32. In an unprecedented move, she posed without makeup for a photo shoot featured inside the issue. Also posing sans makeup: Jessica Biel, Rihanna and Jessica Alba.</p>
  • Slide 19 of 26: <p>Hudson's 4-year-old son Ryder dominated the conversation when the actress was named Most Beautiful at age 29. Sharing cover space with her: Halle Berry and Patrick Dempsey.</p>
  • Slide 20 of 26: <p>With her cancer battle behind her, Applegate then 37, was radiant on her PEOPLE cover, shared with Jennifer Lopez, Robert Pattinson and Cindy Crawford, among others.</p>
  • Slide 21 of 26: <p>Lopez's cover reveal was extra-special: it happened during American Idol, which she was judging at the time. The mom of two, then 41, was joined by Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher on her issue.</p>
  • Slide 22 of 26: <p>The singer arrived to her cover shoot in a helicopter - and obviously the glam didn't stop there. The new mom, 30, didn't share her cover space with any other beauties - but her issue did include an ode to the "beauty of the photobomb," likely a WMB first.</p>
  • Slide 23 of 26: <p>Though Paltrow's cover was polarizing to readers, her message on natural beauty (and staying fit) was a simple one. The mother of two, then 40 - and joined on the cover by fresh faces Jennifer Lawrence and Kerry Washington - also touched on the topics of motherhood and cooking with her late father.</p>
  • Slide 24 of 26: <p>The inspiring Oscar winner - joined on the cover by Julia Roberts (again!), Jennifer Lawrence and Julianna Margulies - was a fun pick in part because of her amazing fashion sense. The then-31-year-old played dress-up in a bunch of gowns in a seriously glam video, and was filmed meeting her beauty icon, model Alek Wek.</p>
  • Slide 25 of 26: <p>"That's ridiculous," was the 50-year-old's reaction to earning the title that year. "What is beautiful is the honor of being Louis' mother," she added of parenting her 5-year-old son. "Be a good person, be a good mom, do a good job with the lunch, let someone cut in front of you who looks like they're in a bigger hurry. The people I find most beautiful are the ones who aren't trying."</p>
  • Slide 26 of 26: <p><b>Most Beautiful 2004 & 2016:</b> <a href="http://people.com/tag/jennifer-aniston/">Aniston</a>, who'd just wrapped up her wildly successful sitcom Friends when she landed on the cover of PEOPLE as the WMB for the first time, confessed to <a href="http://people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20150046,00.html">plastering on makeup</a> in her younger, more insecure days. When she finally stopped, "I'd have people say, 'God, you look so much better.'" When she was honored with the title for the second time <a href="http://people.com/bodies/jennifer-aniston-is-peoples-2016-worlds-most-beautiful-woman/">last year</a>, Aniston defined beauty as: "Inner confidence. Peace. Kindness. Honesty. A life well-lived. Taking on challenges and not feeling shame for things that haven't gone the way you felt they should have. And not feeling like a failure or allowing people to critique your life and make you feel like you've failed at something. That's just toxic noise." <b>Now: </b>In January, Aniston revealed to Variety that she's considered returning to the small screen. "I've thought about it a lot," the 48-year-old <a href="http://people.com/movies/jennifer-aniston-on-returning-to-tv/">said</a>. "That's where the work is. That's where the quality is. At this point in my career, I want to be part of wonderful stories, exciting characters, and also just having a good time ... When you're in your 20s, going away from home was an adventure - meeting new people, seeing other parts of the country or world was so exciting. Now it's really about wanting to stay closer to home and just enjoying your time."</p>
Slide 1 of 26: <p>Eleven PEOPLE editors decided to put out a list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, taking submissions from readers, fellow staffers and casting directors and modeling agents. Pfeiffer, then 32, received the top honor, though PEOPLE editors wrote they learned three things from the process: "That there is no such thing as perfect beauty. That people have blessedly different ideas about what's beautiful. And that most people are beautiful in some way, and that's about as beautiful as anybody really needs to be."</p>

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1/26 SLIDES © People

MICHELLE PFEIFFER, 1990



Eleven PEOPLE editors decided to put out a list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, taking submissions from readers, fellow staffers and casting directors and modeling agents. Pfeiffer, then 32, received the top honor, though PEOPLE editors wrote they learned three things from the process: "That there is no such thing as perfect beauty. That people have blessedly different ideas about what's beautiful. And that most people are beautiful in some way, and that's about as beautiful as anybody really needs to be."