THE SUNDAY CONVERSATION - A new woman

It's intriguing when actors branch out.

It's not as intriguing when people branch out because they've licensed things out. It's more intriguing to me when people go out and do things on their own. [J'aime] is funded solely by me -- there are no private investors, I didn't go to school for this. I know what I want, I think I know what women want in clothes, designs and fit. I want a line that every woman can wear. And clothes that were affordable. Couture, people can't afford. People like me borrow it and give it back!

Are you getting that thing where you start to feel younger as you age?

Yes and no! I wasn't afraid to turn 30, I was excited. It makes you feel like a new woman and a woman in general. It makes people take you more seriously. Same thing happens when you have a child. On the other hand, the lack of sleep -- the jobs, my son, that kind of thing -- makes you feel old.

Before 30, did people take you less seriously? Was it a problem that you'd posed for magazines like Maxim?

That was when Maxim came about, in my 20s -- and Stuff magazine. That's when it became like, the new thing, the men's magazine that wasn't Playboy. It had great articles, the photographs were beautiful, the women were beautiful. It was OK for that point in my life. . . . Now, instead of doing those magazines, and I have a lot of respect for those magazines because they did well when I was in my 20s, now it's GQ and Esquire. You step it up! Just like with my clothing line and the baby and winning an Emmy. Hard work pays off.

Oh! You're a businesswoman!

Definitely a businesswoman! I thoroughly enjoy that aspect of it.

The flighty artist thing, actresses flapping their hands and talking about art, seems boring and somehow sexist.

It's obnoxious. It really is. It's like, enough already, you know? Too many people want to get rich and famous and do it quick. . . . To get anywhere you have to be focused, ambitious, headstrong and really, really want it. It won't come on a silver platter, and it won't last long.

I assume you're moderately wealthy. Do you stop at a certain point?