HELEN: I'M NOT SEXY

The Oscar-winning actress, who caused a stir when she was pictured looking red-hot in a skimpy two-piece in Italy this summer, denies she is sexy and says she’s no longer bothered about striving for physical perfection.

“The camera lied,” she says. “It just happened to catch me at the right angle. In truth, I look c**p!

“There was so much nonsense talked about my body and I thought: ‘You should see what I really look like.’ Have a look at models like Naomi Campbell if you want to see a great body.”

And despite feeling obliged to step up her fitness regime at the time, she now tells Good Housekeeping magazine: “I have a much greater interest in a wonderful nightie than in being naked.”