Take That, Tom Brady! Bridget Moynahan Looking Fab & (Almost) 40 on the March Cover of MORE

February 22, 2011

In the accompanying feature interview, Carrie's "Sex and the City" rival proves she's, er, big, in her own right, including owning her age...finally. "For a long time, when I was lying about my age, my younger brother would cover for me by saying he was in the middle. I was 29 for about 29 years." Like when she was cast as Natasha, Sarah Jessica Parker's arch-nemesis in SATC: "It was scary," she admits. "I was a young actress and hadn’t done anything. I'm just happy I didn’t fall apart."

Which would be a tempting prospect given her messy history with her ex, football star Tom Brady, who took up with model Gisele around the time Moynahan publicly announced she was pregnant with her son, Jack. "I never made a comment about Gisele or Tom publicly," she explains, noting that her son is surrounded by love and still has two caring parents, plus his famously extended fam. "I have a relationship with these people on a daily basis. I’m raising a child, and it's public." But not some kind of weird, tabloid-generated faux love-triangle. "I keep thinking about poor Angelina and Jennifer and Brad, braided in together. It’s possible they haven’t run into each other in years…I don’t think we're [Moynahan, Brady and Bundchen] dragged around the media together."

Says Tom Selleck, her co-star & TV dad in their hit series "Blue Bloods" who harbors a paternal "soft spot" for her: "She's so talented, but I think it's almost taken for granted...She has a joie de vivre, she's got a great sense of humor, she can mix it up with anyone."

Except, perhaps, for reality stars like Kim Kardashian or Snooki. "They’re putting forward material that you're never going to live down. Really poor behavior is going on, but now it's considered OK. There's a lack of self-respect that I don’t understand, and I find it kind of sad," she remarks. "They are icons of this generation. That kind of fame - do you get satisfaction out of it long term? Is it worth it?"

- Lesley Scott

A FUN INTERVIEW W/MANOLO BLAHNIK