It’s a weird place, Hollywood. It usually promotes the youngest and most shallow personalities, with so little to say, but a lot of skin to show. Just take a look at today’s most talked-about celebrities and you’ll see that almost each and every one of the tabloid-favorites is under 25, 27 max.  Also, if they’re older than that, they must be doing something really nasty, behaving badly, going in and out of rehab or partying like crazy and throwing money all over the town. A sex-tape is always a plus when you want to reinforce your celebrity status.

But on the other hand, there’s this side of Hollywood that still bears in mind that beauty and talent go far beyond 30 and the most valuable celebrities are those who managed to stand strong after their ups and downs, as beauty, both inner and outer, are usually a given in youth, but are harder to maintain as time goes by.

Halle Berry is one of those stars, one that has always been appreciated for her beauty, but even now, at age 42, she manages to look fabulous, and dare we say, more radiating and sexier than ever. Maybe it’s that mighty power of motherhood we often hear about, as she gave birth back in March to her first child, baby girl Nahla. Maybe it’s that Oscar that she keeps on her nightstand, the very first one to go to a black woman for "Best Actress." Maybe is the fact that she is finally happy after two failed marriages, with partner Gabriel Aubry, a French-Canadian model, or maybe it’s all of the above and a little something else called wisdom. We don’t know for sure, but the thing we do know is that starting this month, Halle is officially “The Sexiest Woman Alive,” as declared by Esquire magazine. At least for one year.


The November issue of the famous men’s magazine shows a confident mature woman looking amazing in a series of black or white tank-tops imprinted with classic Esquire covers and a ravishing black lace brassiere. The photo on the cover of the magazine, already available on the Esquire official site, is actually a recreation of an older classic cover from December 2000, featuring Bill Clinton.

Berry  is sporting a light blue tie and a classy black suit jacket and looks so much better than the former president, in this fourth and final recreation of a classic Esquire cover, the first three featuring Victoria's Secret models in Angie Dickinson sweaters (February), Jessica Simpson in shaving cream (May), and Stephen Colbert in martyrdom (August).

The site states: “We knew we needed a worthy finale. So we turned to one of our most iconic covers, the valedictory December 2000 image of President Bill Clinton taken by the photographer Platon. We wanted to recapture the confidence, charm, and power of that image, but with an even handsomer subject: 2008's Sexiest Woman Alive, Halle Berry.”