Kate Beckinsale on Sexiness, Aging, and Giving Up Bikinis

Actress Kate Beckinsale certainly can kick ass on the big screen in movies like “Underworld” and the upcoming “Total Recall,” but as the cover girl for the August issue of Allure magazine, Kate still thinks about aging and being labeled the sexiest woman alive.

She laughed, “I think the risk of being the sexiest woman alive is that you don't want to ever have sex again. You don't want to wear a bikini again.”

For Beckinsale, the sexy thing happened when she married “Total Recall” director Len Wiseman. “Feeling attractive didn't come until I was 29 and with Len… at the time it was partly perceived as if I'd gone all Hollywood, but it wasn't like that at all. It was just okay for me to walk around and feel feminine and attractive. I like feeling liberated like this.”

On aging, Kate pondered, “What is it about a woman being in her late 30s that brings out the 'Oh, my gosh, are you worried?' questions? Worried? What about? Thirty-eight, 39, 40, 50! Great! Still alive!”

She continued, “It's more of the thing of being embarrassing to somebody. I haven't been embarrassing before. I can't dance at a party where there are teenagers without clearing the dance floor. Those are the things that make me go, 'F**k, I'm old'… you're a parent, everyone leaves.”