Helen Mirren says she doesn't understand why she's called a 'sex symbol'

Helen Mirren is many things. Talented, timeless, iconic... Just don't call her a sex symbol.

In a new interview with UK magazine Woman, the 74-year-old British actress said she doesn't even know what it means to be regarded as one. 

"I don't agree that I'm a sex symbol, the great thing about getting older is that you get over all that. You tend to think, 'Sex symbol? What the f--- does that mean?' There are so many other interesting things to be driven by," she told the publication.

Mirren quickly added that she wasn't knocking back the compliment. It was still flattering nonetheless, but it wasn't the be all and end all. 

"It's great and I'm not knocking it — it's a fabulous part of life — but it's only a part, it's not everything. So I'll take it, I'm not going to argue with it. But I'm not going to pay attention either," explained the star, who won a Best Actress Oscar in 2006 for her performance in The Queen. 

Mirren has often voiced her concerns about being labelled a sex symbol. In a 2016 interview with Good Morning America, she said her issue with the term is that it pigeonholes women. 

"It's as if we can only operate through our sexual allure, for a want of a better word," she said on the program. "I think that's such rubbish and so untrue about women, and I just don't want women to be constantly pushed back into that box. We together have to think about a new word."