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" \n In real life, Beyonc\u00E9 Knowles is nothing like you&amp;#039;d expect her to be. Quiet, demure, and conservatively dressed, she seems like an alter ego to the rump-shaking, sequined seductress you see onstage and onscreen. But have no doubt about it: The girl is sexy. Even sporting a snow bunny outfit (a fur-trimmed Fair Isle cardigan sweater and faded jeans tucked into flat, brown suede boots), she looks hot enough to melt a glacier. Another surprising thing about Beyonc\u00E9: She&amp;#039;s only 24. She seems far more mature and explains that the past year forced her to really grow up. And we can see why. She made her final album, Destiny Fulfilled, with Destiny&amp;#039;s Child, the Grammy-winning group that Beyonc\u00E9&amp;#039;s dad, Mathew, put together back in their hometown of Houston in 1990. And she began focusing on her new fashion line, House of Dereon, as well as her acting career. This month, she stars in The Pink Panther and is currently shooting the big-screen version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. After Dreamgirls, she&amp;#039;ll start working on her second solo album (her first, 2003&amp;#039;s Dangerously in Love, earned her five Grammys). Despite Beyonc\u00E9&amp;#039;s success and popularity, she&amp;#039;s never fallen prey to the behaviors that have sent so many other starlets over the edge. That means no bitchiness, no trainwreck breakups (she&amp;#039;s been dating rapper Jay-Z for four years), no eating disorders, and no ugly fallouts with her parents (she&amp;#039;s close to her dad, who is still her manager, her stylist mother, Tina, and her 19-year-old singer/actress sister, Solange). Beyonc\u00E9&amp;#039;s always been talented and confident, but by going out on her own this year, the pop princess has shown a boldness and independence that screams Fun Fearless Female. And for that, we honor her.   Cosmo: What&amp;#039;s been your most fearless move? Beyonc\u00E9: Doing my solo album. People don&amp;#039;t realize that Destiny&amp;#039;s Child started when we were 9. We shared everything, like sisters. It takes courage to step out on your own when there&amp;#039;s no conflict. It was always comforting knowing the other girls were there to share the nervousness, the pressures, and the rumors. Dealing with that alone and making all the decisions myself was hard. C: A lot has happened to you in the past year. How has it all changed you? B: I&amp;#039;ve grown so much. I&amp;#039;m more picky about what I&amp;#039;ll do, and I&amp;#039;m more of a businesswoman. But at the same time, I take care of myself. All I used to do was work. Now I&amp;#039;m comfortable in my own skin and have a good balance. C: Are you still close with Kelly and Michelle? B: Absolutely. Yes. They will be my bridesmaids. C: So that means you&amp;#039;re getting married soon? B: Right now the tabloids are saying I&amp;#039;m pregnant, and they&amp;#039;re naming the baby. It&amp;#039;s hilarious. I don&amp;#039;t know when I&amp;#039;ll want to get married. I never pictured myself as a bride, but after my sister&amp;#039;s wedding, I did start thinking about what kind of wedding I&amp;#039;d want. I don&amp;#039;t think I want a big one. C: Do you think the fact that you and Jay-Z have tried to hide your relationship has helped it? B: I don&amp;#039;t try to hide it. There&amp;#039;s nothing to hide. People see us, but we just don&amp;#039;t talk about it, and I think that&amp;#039;s absolutely helped us. People give us space and respect us. The minute you start talking about it, that&amp;#039;s all people want to talk about. And then the really big rumors start happening. C: What&amp;#039;s your favorite romantic evening? B: Light some candles, have a good meal, and watch an old movie. I don&amp;#039;t cook much, but I&amp;#039;m good at spaghetti and sandwiches. I know they&amp;#039;re easy, but they&amp;#039;re my specialty. C: You&amp;#039;ve said that to be a strong woman, you need a strong man. What did you mean by that? B: You definitely feed off the people around you, and your man is one of the people you talk to the most. So you kind of help each other and keep each other strong. It&amp;#039;s important. C: Do you think it&amp;#039;s possible to have it all\u2026the marriage, the kids, the career? Or will you have to slow down? B: I&amp;#039;m sure my priorities will change. My mother was such a great mother and is still such a big part of my life. I want my kids to feel that way about me. I want to be in their lives. I don&amp;#039;t want to be away a lot, so I&amp;#039;m sure I&amp;#039;ll slow down. But there are so many amazing people who do both. C: You were in the delivery room when your sister had her baby. Did that make you excited to have kids? B: I didn&amp;#039;t want to be in the delivery room, because I thought I would never want to [give birth]. But I was moved by the experience, so it didn&amp;#039;t make me not want to have kids. It&amp;#039;s made me want to wait a while. I babysat for my nephew last week, and [motherhood] is not as glamorous as it looks. C: You went from writing songs like &amp;quot;Independent Women&amp;quot; to writing &amp;quot;Cater 2 U&amp;quot; for your last album. Does this reflect a change in your own life? B: I thought [the members of Destiny&amp;#039;s Child] felt like characters\u2026 like we were so strong that we couldn&amp;#039;t have our hearts broken or we wouldn&amp;#039;t do things for a man. But we&amp;#039;re human, and I wanted to show that on our last album. [I wrote songs] when I was hurt and vulnerable. C: What&amp;#039;s the biggest risk you&amp;#039;ve taken recently? B: I took a risk with acting. It was scary because it was different for me. You just always have to take risks. I always go with my gut, and it&amp;#039;s always right. People are scared to do that. C: You call your onstage persona Sasha. Why? B: My cousin Angie named her because I&amp;#039;ve kind of created a different person. If something&amp;#039;s hard for me to do [in real life], when I get on stage, I do it without thinking. I don&amp;#039;t remember some of the things I do onstage. Once at the MTV Awards, I had [a really expensive] bracelet on and chucked it into the audience. Angie had to go and retrieve it.&amp;quot; C: Any wardrobe malfunctions while filming a video? B: In my Crazy in Love video, I was dancing so hard that my whole dress completely fell off in front of all these men. C: Has your body image changed since &amp;quot;Bootylicious&amp;quot;? B: It gets easier to be confident about my body as I get older. I realize who I am, and I deal with it. I&amp;#039;m still kind of embarrassed that I wrote that song\u2014I had gained a little weight, and I was making fun of it. It&amp;#039;s a silly song, but it&amp;#039;s nice because it&amp;#039;s made curvy women feel sexy. C: What&amp;#039;s your diet and exercise regimen like now? B: I go through spurts. I love food. I grew up in Texas with these big portions of good food. For the last month, I&amp;#039;ve just been decorating my house and enjoying life and eating anything. But next week, I start rehearsing, so I&amp;#039;ll start running again and eating healthy four times a day, cutting back on carbs, anything white, and anything that tastes too good. C: What&amp;#039;s the sexiest part of a man&amp;#039;s body? B: Shoulders\u2026and I give a good massage. C: What other things do you like in a guy? B: Confidence. I like guys who are cool and laid-back. Someone who works really hard and has goals but who I can be silly with. Looks are not important to me. Since I&amp;#039;m working all the time, it&amp;#039;s all about the conversations, because I want to be able to talk on the phone while I&amp;#039;m away. C: What&amp;#039;s your average day like? B: If I have a day off, sometimes I&amp;#039;ll stay in bed all day and watch TV and eat whatever I want. I&amp;#039;ll eat cereal and Oreos and change channels every three minutes. I watch everything from National Geographic to the History Channel to The Tyra Banks Show to MTV. And I really like Fear Factor. C: How would your friends describe you? B: They&amp;#039;d say I&amp;#039;m laid-back and calm\u2014and kind of motherly. I can be goofy and silly, but I don&amp;#039;t really laugh at myself. C: Are you more of a guys&amp;#039; girl or a girls&amp;#039; girl? B: I&amp;#039;m both. I usually go out with a bunch of guys\u2026to dinner or a movie or a party. But I think it&amp;#039;s important for women to be around other women and learn from each other. 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<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a1705/beyonce-interview/>