‘I’m in better shape than I was at 25’

She’s as rock’n’roll as Kate, as pin-up perfect as Claudia and, like the rest of the iconic supers, back fronting fashion campaigns again. Here, the fabulous-at-forty Helena Christensen reveals what it takes to still look hot – and why she’s never lived with a man.

“Oh!” gasps a wide-eyed Helena Christensen, spinning around to take a bowl that a member of In Style’s crew has fetched at her request. “It’s here! The whipped cream is here!” she calls across the studio to anyone who’ll listen and piles two hefty spoonfuls on to a chunk of chocolate cake. This, after a sizeable lunch of chicken, spinach tart, roast veg and salad. “I eat like a pig,” she admits, mouth still full.

It’s hard to believe two decades have passed since the former Miss Denmark burned up the lens in crooner Chris Isaak’s sizzling “Wicked Game” video. And, despite her appetite, if anything has changed about her bombshell curves, it’s that they’re better. But it’s impossible to hate her, because unlike certain supermodel peers, Helena is the anti-diva.

Professional to the core, she arrives bang on time at New York’s famous Milk Studios, a short walk from her West Village home. She’s all smiles and hugs, the embodiment of effortless cool in a tuxedo-striped Vanessa Bruno skirt and Mike & Chris leather bomber that hide her figure, but when she emerges from the changing room in sheer, clingy Alexander McQueen, jaws drop.

In front of the camera, she is mesmerising: she literally fizzes, broadcasting sex with a half smile, knees slightly bent to make her body all the more Jessica Rabbit. No wonder the likes of Michael Hutchence and (rumour has it) Leonardo DiCaprio were helpless to resist (she’s been with Paul Banks, US rock band Interpol’s 29-year-old front man, since 2007).

But don’t think that being 40 is hampering her career either – far from it. Along with her Nineties modelling contemporaries, she’s been enjoying another major “moment”, which has seen them turn from supermodels to icons, with big labels falling over themselves to sign them again. (Think Helena looking incredible as a sexy pirate in the Agent Provocateur ads, Linda Evangelista in the Prada campaign and Claudia Schiffer in the Chanel ads.)

And then there’s all Helena’s other careers. The multitasking dynamo’s photography has been published in a number of glossy magazines including Spanish and Italian Vogue and exhibited in one-woman shows, she was the launch creative director of hip US fashion title Nylon and owned a boutique in New York until her business partner moved home to Denmark last year. But her biggest achievement, she insists, is her nine-year-old son Mingus (with her ex, model/actor Norman Reedus). “It’s a genius thing that you can create your own best friend,” she laughs.

Her interview (plus one more picture!) after the jump!

We see you like your food…
“Oh my God, I’m obsessed! It takes up 75 per cent of my brain. I cook every day for my son and even if I’m going out for dinner, I’ll have a bite of what I made for him and then be like, ‘Oh, there’s three hours left until dinner’, and, suddenly, I’ve eaten a whole bowl.”

Does being a single mum make it harder to date?
“I think it’s a good thing actually. Because your child is your first priority, you’re more selective, so in order to let someone into that world, they have to be really special You cut out the bullshit that you might fall for if you didn’t have responsibilities.”

Is it true that you’ve never lived with a man?
“I’ve never lived with anyone except my son.”

Not even his father?
“No, because my life is travel, so it just happened that way. It’s not like I set out to live like that, but now it would be a big thing to move in with somebody. I’m used to my own place, my own things. But you know, if I met the right person, I’m sure I’d be like, ‘Move in tomorrow, put your things everywhere’. That would probably work for a while and then I’d need a bit of balance!”

If you did meet the right man, do you think you’d try for more children?
“Oh yeah. Though it’s so amazing what I have. I look at my child and think, if me and his father could create this, what else could you create?”

You’ve been out with some gorgeous musicians and actors – are you attracted to creative types?
“It’s really about what circles you move in. There’s just a bigger chance of me running into someone in the entertainment business. I don’t have anything against meeting a cool, funny doctor or lawyer, it just hasn’t really happened. It’d be good to have a doctor in the house!”

How was turning 40 [Helena’s birthday was on Christmas Day]?
“Age in itself doesn’t freak me out. I’m in better shape than I was at 25 because I’m actually doing something physical, which I never did until two years ago because I was way too lazy. I’m still really lazy about it. I try to go boxing twice a week and I run, but after exactly 21 minutes, I’m ready to lie down and vomit. I’m super-lucky with my metabolism. I eat more than anyone I know, so I have to be realistic – that might not always be the situation. That’s why I chose really intense training. It was a question of, if I want to continue eating that much, I need to balance it out.”

Check out the April issue of InStyle for more info!

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