Bo Derek can't believe one iconic scene from more than 40 years ago is still so memorable.
"It was one of those moments where a fairy godmother comes in, taps you on the forehead with her magic wand and changes everything," she told Fox News.
Bo dropped jaws when she ran across the beach in a gold swimsuit in 1979's "10." She was immortalized after the movie came out, and posters of her were hung on walls all over the world.
"People say I'm an icon, whatever that means. I wouldn't call myself that," she said while reflecting on that moment in time. "I don't take it personally. But I played a part that certainly became iconic for sure."
Since then, Bo, 63, has procured an impressive résumé in Hollywood.
"I'm grateful for the life I was given," she said. "I feel very good about the decisions I've made. They weren't always the most successful business decisions as far as money in the bank, but I had a blast making films and having my career on my own terms. And that business has been very good to me. And it has opened so many doors for me."
Along the way the actress met John Corbett and they began dating, a romance that blossomed after her first husband, John Derek, passed away of congestive heart failure in 1998 at the age of 71.
"I didn't expect to end up with anyone again," Bo said. "Some women want to pair up again right away. I didn't. I remember consciously fashioning myself after some girlfriends that I have [who] are single and led very full, fantastic lives with friends and family and projects that they do. And that gave them happiness."
Bo and John have now been together for nearly 20 years.
"It was just an attraction, a comfort," she said of meeting the "Sex and the City" star in 2003. "He makes me laugh all the time. He's full of life, full of joy. I became attracted to him and I still am. We take things day by day and I think we are still there."
Despite their two-decade romance, the couple has no plans to marry.
"I think when you're beginning a young family and you're going to have children and set up this new family tree branch, it's obviously a wonderful commitment and it's meaningful," Bo said. "But for us in our lives, it hasn't been yet."