It's kind of hard to believe that Kate Beckinsale didn't find herself attractive until she was nearly 30-years-old.

But the Total Recall star who appears on the cover of this month's Allure admits to the magazine that things didn't really get put into perspective for her until her late 20s.

Feeling attractive didn't come until I was 29 and with Len (Wiseman, her husband of nearly eight years), she tells the August issue of Allure. At the time it was partly perceived as if I'd gone all Hollywood, but it wasn't like that at all.

While the now 38-year-old does admit in the interview that she's been blessed with the youthful looks of someone in their early 20s, she also reveals that she acquired a sense of confidence and reassurance.

Beckinsale was named Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2009, an honor that the actress has gladly embraced.

I think the risk of being the sexiest woman alive is that you don't want to ever have sex again, she told the magazine. You don't want to wear a bikini again.

However, a part of the interview with the British actress does let readers in on what really makes her feel old - when her 13-year-old daughter Lily (with ex Michael Sheen) makes it a point to remind her.

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, jokes Beckinsale.

Those are the things that make me go, 'F--k, I'm old... When you're a parent, everyone leaves.

Beckinsale can be seen in the upcoming Len Wisemen release Total Recall, starring Collin Farrell and Jessica Biel. The movie is due out on August 3.

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