Celebrity beauty icon - Teri Hatcher

By Yanar Alkayat

Hoorah! The Desperate Wives are back on our screens so our beauty icon of the month is none other than Teri Hatcher. Having been Superman\'s sidekick back in the day, a baddie in Tomorrow Never Dies and large-bosomed lady on Seinfeld, she returned to our screens a decade later as the ditsy but oh-so adorable Susan Mayer on Wisteria Lane.

Today, her beauty seems unusually eternal with a figure of a 20-something year-old. She also launched a book last year, Burnt Toast, and it\'s rumoured a television series of her life is also in the making.

So we dug deep to bring you the beauty dirt and gossip on our favourite Housewife...

Beauty at 40

She may have hit 40 but her looks are hardly waning. Last year she was famed as the face of America\'s Clairol Nice ‘n\' Easy, proving that beauty can be big at 40. "In all my career, in my ups and downs, I\'ve never had a beauty campaign. This was meaningful that at almost 41 years old, I could be getting my first beauty campaign. It made me feel really great."

Beauty dilemmas

The actress has also admitted to having grey hair and dying it since the age of 25, making the Clairol beauty deal very handy indeed.

Beauty quirks

The benefits of red wine have long been heralded by beauty insiders so Teri has been rumoured to actually bathe in the stuff. Yes, you heard right, instead of drinking red wine Teri runs a bath with it. "This make-up chemist that I know was talking about all the good properties in wine - antioxidants and exfoliating qualities - and she said, `Never throw it out, dump it in your bath!\' You can always count on the Hollywood celeb-set to take things a step or two further!

Anti-ageing

Teri and Botox seem to be firm friends and after denying any use of Botox or collagen injections, she finally admitted to having a helping hand in an interview with Glamour magazine. "In the past, I\'ve had Botox and collagen, but I haven\'t had anything done in over a year," she claimed. "It needs to be OK to have wrinkles." Words of beauty wisdom from a lady who is remarkably wrinkle-free!

Stripping to keep fit

Teri\'s body is extraordinary for a woman of 40, so what\'s her secret? Stripping apparently! But not the naughty kind, apparently she goes to strip aerobics class once a week to work up a sweat, boost her body confidence and keep her figure lean and trim. "It sounds funny but it\'s great for all your muscles and it\'s actually really empowering because it\'s not about turning a guy on - it\'s about turning yourself on and being comfortable with your own body."

Tiny Teri

She may have a teeny-weeny body size (said to be an American size 2!), but Ms Hatcher still suffers from the kind of body gripes that grip us all. "I\'d like to change my butt. It hangs a little too long. God forbid what it will look like when I\'m older. It will probably be dragging along on the ground behind me." Somehow we don\'t think that your tiny butt will ever be trailing behind you Teri!

Healthy eater

So apart from swinging her hips and gyrating in striptease classes, Teri is also said to follow a low-fat, high-protein diet with lots of steamed vegetable. But take comfort girls, as she is also rumoured to have a weakness for chocolate banana splits - hoorah, a bit of normality too!

Beauty battle

Teri recently got caught up in a legal battle with beauty company Hydroderm, who tried to sue her for breach of contract after claiming she had promoted other beauty products while signed up to them. Teri denied all accusations and went on to win the £2m lawsuit, saying it was changes in management at the company that led to confusion over her contract. Phew.

Click through for other Handbag beauty icons

>> Angelina Jolie

>> Kylie Minogue

>> Jennifer Aniston

>> Scarlett Johansson