Politics and Hot Topics

Halle is calling from her home in Los Angeles to join the conversation. She says she told Esquire she was astonished that they chose her as the sexiest woman alive. "[I said,] 'I just had a baby—don't you guys know, haven't you heard? This isn't the year to pick me for this,'" she says. But after thinking it over, Halle says she realized it was the perfect time to show what "sexy" really means. "It really has nothing to do with if you've had a baby or not or if you're 50 pounds overweight or whatever you might think would make one unattractive," she says. "It really wasn't about that."

Gayle says she loved Halle's honesty in her interview. "I like what you said—sexy could be the waitress, it could be the woman from Africa, sexy could mean wearing a tank top and pumps."

At 42 years old, Halle says she can now say she is truly happy with her life. "I figured many things out for myself, and it just came with age for me," she says. "I've arrived at a really good place where I feel good and confident—confident enough to talk about my orgasms in print, so I think I'm going in the right direction."

During Halle's last visit to The Oprah Show, she said she would never get married again. Has she reconsidered? "Oh no, no, no," she says. "Because I'm in such a good place and I'm thinking so clearly, I can tell you I will never get married again. It's not about that for me anymore."