101-year-old woman says that tequila is the secret to long life

A woman who celebrated her 101st birthday has revealed the secret to a "happy life."

(And no, it's not regular exercise, a healthy diet or a good night's sleep).

According to Mary Flip, tequila is life's elixir as she believes the Mexican liquor is the key to a long, healthy life.

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Given that the pensioner from Chandler, Arizona who has lived through the Great Depression, multiple wars and birthed six kids, we'll definitely take her word for it.

Mary still has her quick-witted sense of humour, as her daughter asked her "How do you feel?" to which Mary cheekily quipped: "With my hand."

After losing her mother and sister at a young age, Mary moved to Mexico at the age of 18 where she lived as a rancher and during this time met her husband (and also discovered her love for tequila).

Then Mary moved back to Chicago when she was pregnant with her first child and had a career change-up, and became an artist which led her to get recognised by Chicago School of Art.

"I really like to draw," Mary told NBC 15: "And I was able to figure out that things change even as you’re drawing them. So, I was able to develop and make them look real. It took time but I had nothing else to do except raise a bunch of kids.”

Of course, due to reaching the impressive milestone, Mary celebrated her birthday in style with her favourite beer - Guinness.

As friends and family danced at the celebration, Mary joked: "Oh, I’ll get up on the table."

All of us can only aspire to be as cool as Mary if we live to 101.

Turns out, Mary is not alone in her belief that alcohol was key to a long life as the world’s oldest woman Lucile Randon, known as Sister Andre, who turned 118 in April has a daily glass of wine for every breakfast and morning mass.

The staff member at Sister Andre's care home in Toulon, France said: "Her glass of wine maintains her and is perhaps her longevity secret. I don’t know – I don’t encourage people to drink a glass of wine everyday!"

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