LONDON: For years, veteran actor Helen Mirren has been called a sex symbol but the Oscar winner says she doesn't agree with the label.
The 74-year-old actor said being considered sexy is just a part of life and she has got over it.
"I don't agree that I'm a sex symbol. The great thing about getting older is that you get over all that. You tend to think, 'Sex symbol? What the f**k does that mean?' "There are so many other interesting things to be driven by. It's great and I'm not knocking it - it's a fabulous part of life - but it's only a part, it's not everything. So I'll take it, I'm not going to argue with it. But I'm not going to pay attention either," Mirren told Woman magazine.
The actor admitted she never felt confident about her looks when she was younger.
"Because of the way I was born, I fell into a rather '50s understanding of sexy, which I found so annoying and embarrassing and mortifying and humiliating, it just wasn't ever my taste. I wanted to be, you know, a skinny girl in black with a Gitane cigarette - and physically, I just wasn't. I had to deal with what I had been given genetically, but, at the same time, not allow it to ruin my life. History doesn't really want women to be successful. And, if they are, they have to have gotten their success through sex basically," she added.
However, when it comes to her work, Mirren said she is "quite sensitive" about what is being said.
"I do give a big f**k about a lot of things. If someone says, 'I didn't like that Helen Mirren movie,' it always hurts a little because my job is to entertain and for people to enjoy my work. You're nowhere without an audience."
"I'm quite sensitive actually but certain things you have to learn not to give a f**k about, and getting older does help with that hugely," the actor added.