Angie Harmon has no trouble with aging.
The Highland Park, Texas native insists, "I'm not afraid of birthdays. Each year makes me more comfortable with myself.
"I realize my faults and all those things that most people are uncomfortable with in life. I've learned to listen to what other people are saying, but form my own opinion."
"In the end, I can sit here and say, 'Angie, it's OK. You're a strong woman. Use all of your heart and appreciate yourself,'" she says.
"Don't get me wrong," she cautions. "I always liked myself. I'm a huge Angie Harmon fan," she says with a whooping laugh.
"But deep down I'm really starting to like who I am thanks to getting older," she says.
"Oh my God," she says. "I'm going to start crying here," she says during a phone interview from the set of her series "Rizzoli & Isles" which returns for its third season tonight on TNT.
RIZZOLI & ISLES RETURNS TONIGHT
So much for being a tough detective. You can put a smile on Harmon's face when you mention her TV alter ego, Boston detective Jane Rizzoli.
"I really love her. She's a force of nature," she says. "It's actually hard for me to put Jane to bed at the end of the day. I have a deep affection for our Janey," she says.
Harmon admires Rizzoli's can-do attitude.
"Jane always has something being thrown at her. I'm proud of the way she reacts in her love life and her career. She has certainly handled herself better than I have. She's a good egg."
Harmon says midlifers tell her that Jane is their role model.
"That means the world to me," she says. "I don't believe anyone has all the answers or we ever reach perfection. But I love the fact that Jane can give some of the answers. She also tells women that it's ok to ask for help, which is a message most of us need to hear because we're so used to doing everything without asking for anything."
She says it has been easy teaming with another woman for the series. Sasha Alexander plays her on-screen cohort Maura Isles.
Don't expect the tabloids to ever report any troubles on the set.
"There is this view that strong women are viewed as bitches that can't get along or can't get it together," she fumes.
"I want to single-handedly set the world straight. That's just a stereotype," she says. "I have wonderful women friends and co-workers. I couldn't imagine fighting with them or backstabbing them.
"They're my role models," she says.
A BEAUTIFUL LIFE
Angie grew up in Highland Park, Texas and worked as a child model and won a Seventeen magazine modeling contract. She did runway shows for Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan while appearing on the covers of Elle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.
Harmon was ADA Abbie Carmichael from 1998 to 2001 on the NBC hit series "Law & Order."
Harmon lives quietly in Texas with her family. She's married to former professional football player Jason Sehorn. He proposed on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" when she was a guest.
"It was one of the most romantic moments in my life," Harmon says. "I was truly surprised."
The have three daughters, Finley, 8, Avery 6, and Emery 3, in Texas.
AGE AND BEAUTY
Harmon says she keeps her beauty routine simple. "It's really about eating right, moving and moisturizing. I can use a whole bottle of moisturizer in just a few days," she says.
She says her most beautiful moments don't come from any jar.
"I'm serious when I say that you get to this point where you can look around and say, 'I'm proud of my life. I'm proud of what I did.' I'm leaving something behind when Angie Harmon is gone.
"I just want people to say, 'What a great girl. She did great for women and children,'" she says.
"I just want to get as much done as possible now. I'm halfway through my life. I don't really care what other people think," she says.
"If I'm going to make some people mad along the way, so be it. I just have to follow my heart."
