Sorry Helen, but you are sexy... if you choose not to trade on that, more power to you.

I agree with what she says but have to digress as she is a siren! That is a hot woman - no sign of it falling away any time soon!

Oh, Dame Mirren, I love you so. I promise not to besmirch your character in the gross-out contest I'm having with Lady Skittles a few posts away.

close up on awesome dress, please (oh and helen's hot, no matter what she says even with a couple of corgis and a QE2 wig on)

@NefariousNewt: Exactly! I find it all the more appealing...makes her even hotter!

I want to be like her when I grow up. She's so stunning and classy.

Aaannnddd... it's this sort of attitude that makes her even sexier. Your move, Mirren.

She is fantastic. Her humility makes her even sexier.

Then it's okay to call her fione? 'Cause I do!

If I can get to be her age and be able to tell people not to call me sexy, I will be the happiest woman alive.

Ditto if I can be as confident, eloquent and generally awesome as she is.

Helen Mirren is one beautiful woman, but she has never rested on her looks and I can respect that. You don't EARN pretty.

My mom gets More magazine...it isn't a bad read.

But her sexual power has nothing to do with nubility - like most sexual power does - the kind that fades. Her sexual power so HUGE because she has the brain to go with the beauty.

Me thinks she doth protest too much. She knows she's hot. Look at her Oscar dress from last year.
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(And her dress this year was gorgeous, too.)

I love Helen Mirren because she said she doesn't wear pants, because they make her look fat. So she doesn't wear them. Unlike everyone else today who is in a race to wear the most unflattering item possible....leggings....bubble dresses...dressy bermuda shorts...skinny/ highwaisted jeans ...10 layers of tunic sweaters. It just seems like common sense.

@EdnasEdibles: Exactly. Her class is what makes her sexy. Note to Lindsay: leggings are not classy.

Is she the one who, when asked why she'd never been married, replied, "No one ever asked"?

It was some hot "older person," but I'm not sure if it was her. At any rate, she is gorgeous and even the younger guys want her.

"an awful power that you've done nothing to deserve, a powerless power. I think some young women fall in love with that power, and it's really objectifying."

I now love her more than ever for that astute observation.

@jenndavo: Oh, I'm going to go besmirch her character on that post right now just to spite you!

But, in all seriousness, I don't think it's a bad thing to be sexy. It's bad when you let it define you.

Well, when she puts it like that, I say "FUCK SEXY!" No, seriously. If I can tell my Aspirations to Sexy to "fuck off," then maybe I can put this irrational fear of aging to rest. I'm 29 (30 in June) and freaking out about it. And it's soooo stupid...

Helen Mirren, you rock. I want to be like you and Dame Judi when I get older.

LOVE.

She should give a class on the difference between confidence and sexiness. The young starlets could learn so much from her.

@EdnasEdibles: Indeed. Classy with a "k"

@brendastarlet: But she's cool enough to be embarrassed when people fuss about her hotness. Remember when Will Ferell and Jack Black did that little song about her at the Oscars? The cameras kept cutting to her face and she looked mortified.

I love her more every time I hear her speak/read such interviews. So awesome. Don't you wish there was some kind of Hollywood mentoring program? Some young starlets need to hear this stuff (naming no names...)

I so want her to adopt me as a niece and teach me her ways of coolness.

@jenndavo: Yeah, but you know inside she's pumped. She would just never admit it. You can't fake that kind of humility. She is definitely the real deal.

@cate3710: Oh! Oh! And Dame Maggie Smith!

Helen, you are my idol.

I am in total, complete agreement - especially in light of how much emphasis is placed on "sexiness" in the US (and, increasingly, everywhere else). I'm thinking now of 12-year old girls in Juicy Couture-type sweatpants with 'sexy' blazing across the butt as if it was a self-imposed brand. If that's empowering, I'd be glad to go and hide in a dark cave for the next several centuries (and be decidedly un-sexy).

PS On a random tangent, the new Glamour magazine cover tells us that there are beauty products that will "change your life." If my life can be changed by a new moisturizer, I'll go hide in my cave as well. With dry skin. And pimples. And flat, lifeless hair.

@jenndavo: well, she's English, and they abhor a fuss being made. She, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are who I want to be when I grow up.

and with that, she just got sexier. She can't win.

@cate3710: oh yes...and dont forget Julie Andrews. Is it significant that all these classy women are British? Just a thought?

@jenndavo: She was so cute. I love her too because she's not botoxed/face lifted within an inch of her life.

@Her_royal_Highness: Yes, thank you. My fantasy tea party is now complete.

thank GOD somebody has said this out loud; that there is a perverse unearned power given to young women by being called a sexual objects. there's an automatic and unspoken 'expiration date' that comes with being called a sexual object and believing it. ms. mirren let it happen naturally and changes the meaning of "sexy" in the process. brava!!!

@frumious: Nope that was Diane Keaton. Who also rules.

Helen Mirren is married to Taylor Hackford, who directed Ray. You know, one of those classy Hollywood marriages that some people seem to act like are impossible to pull off.

@SoCalGilligan: so relevant, too, to the current fascination our culture has with hoochie-mamas.

@brendastarlet: I asked my question before seeing your post. But in any case...its has to do with age (how they were brought up) as well. Look at flipping Jordan (tit model) or Posh. Sure, neither of them HAVE talent...but they like fuss.

This is especially important to hear in light of all the prostitute talk lately. Poor Kristin a.k.a. Ashley and her like, prostitute or not, will not be able to age nearly as gracefully as Helen Mirren without the skill to go with it. It's tragic.

@brendastarlet: Maggie Smith started off as a member of the Bloods in South Central.

She definitely has a point about "sexy" - especially the Hollywood, emaciated-with-big-boobs, wearing next to nothing kind of sexy. It is objectifying and cheapening, and it's got nothing on the real thing.

I have to wonder how she would feel if she had never been called sexy...

I've always wanted to be older so I can be fabulous and classy like Helen. Sigh.

This post has really made my day. And since it's Friday already, that's really saying something.

Thank you, Maria Mercedes.

i respect her opinion but will still continue to love her for her acting skills and her total slutiness (which is in my head)

Are there any other latins in here that cant help but sing the theme song from Maria Mercedes every time they see Maria Mercedes' name anywhere on the site? It's both awesome and driving me insane.

@DEARBLONDDIARY: The same I think. I really, truly believe she's as unpretentious as she sounds.

WOW! What a fabulous quote! I fucking LOVE that she said this and that you guys posted it.

"Being a sexual object is mortifying and irritating, yet it's giving you power--an awful power that you've done nothing to deserve, a powerless power."

Bravo. Many a young Hollywood starlet could benefit from this much self-awareness, as would the millions of young girls/women who idolize them in turn.

Helen Mirren is incredible. If only more people had this sort of attitude. Being "sexy" is completely overrated.

@ineffable.me l0v3s unicorns!1!!1!: hahahaha! Yes! I do the same. However I am now all of a sudden having the urge to sing "mari mar aowwwwwwwwwwwww....."

Bless my grandma and her need to educate me about the Latin culture through the Mexican soap operas!

@Her_royal_Highness: man. Her_royal_highness cannot spell. Please forgive the bad grammar.

@Her_royal_Highness: haha. you know, your grandma did really well. really well. the Thalia trilogy is just something everybody should see. of course Maria Mercedes was the best one. god bless her soul.