Shirley MacLaine Still Lives Life Her Way — Even If It Worries Friends

Postcards from the Edge star Shirley MacLaine has always lived by her own rules, and even though the 90-year-old’s doctors warned her to stop drinking a while ago, she still drinks whenever she wants — leaving friends to worry that her lifestyle is putting her health in jeopardy, sources tell Globe.

“Shirley can’t seem to get through a lunch without wine or her favorite cocktail, and people around her are shaking their heads,” says an insider.

“She’s ignoring warnings from doctors about drinking too much, and it’s has friends worried about her health. She’s about to turn 91 and can barely walk on her own, and the fear is that she’s going to fall and hurt herself while tipsy.”

Even well into her 80s, insiders saw the Kennedy Center honoree, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., drinking martinis at lunch.

And she hasn’t slowed down — the acting legend, who turns 91 on April 24, was seen indulging in a cocktail while dining with her People Not Places costar Stephen Dorff, 51, at The Sunset Restaurant in Malibu on April 7.

In the upcoming indie, Shirley plays a senior spitfire who befriends a homeless man, played by Dorff.

The Sweet Charity star appeared to be having a ball with the Hollywood bad boy as they drank rosé and ate fish tacos, according to insiders. After lunch, Stephen helped get the actress to her car.

She even asked friends recently to help her find a personal assistant, one of whose job requirements was being available to share a cocktail with her every day at 5 o’clock.

“She enjoys her alcoholic beverages, to be sure, and even a glass of rosé is enough to put her in a jovial mood and make her a little reckless in terms of her mobility levels,” says the source of the star, who confessed in her memoir that her father was a “serial alcoholic.”

“It can’t be good for her liver either. But try telling that to Shirley and you’ll be running into a brick wall.”

Adds the source, “Shirley does and says whatever she pleases and if she wants to down a glass of vino in one swig, she will. There’s just no getting through to her.”