"I don't know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it," says Berry, who gave birth to her daughter, Nahla, in March.

"Sexiness is a state of mind — a comfortable state of being," she says. "It's about loving yourself in your most unlovable moments."

But Berry, who won an Oscar for her role in "Monster's Ball," can't claim the sexiest-woman honor all to herself.

"I share this title with every woman, because every woman is a nominee for it at any moment," she says.