Schoolboys have two sorts of crush. There’s the sort that makes your winkle all hot and angry and confused – like Christina in the ‘Dirrty’ video, Princess Leia in the gold bikini or Caron Keating when she got that massage on Blue Peter. And then, for the girls who were too nice to soil a tissue over, you had the ‘imaginary girlfriend’ sort of crush. 
I'm not shy. There's nothing unclassy about being naked 
These days it’d be Holly Willoughby, but back in 1988 we had The Wonder Years’ Winnie, played by Danica McKellar. She was the doe-eyed puppy love of Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) and embodied every nice girl who was too good for us, with our downy moustaches, small but persistent hard-ons and crescents of custard-yellow zits around each nostril.
When the show ended in 1993, Danica returned to her first love: being really clever. She graduated from university with a published high-level mathematics thesis (we checked with the scientific community… it’s a big deal) – and then proceeded to throw it away to be an actress again. TV cameos and a recurring role on The West Wing mean you’ll be seeing a lot more of Danica in future. But not more than you’ll see in these unbelievably hot photos!
Is this the first time people are going to see you half-naked?
I’ve never even taken pictures in a bathing suit! It’s a rite of passage; I’m not a little girl any more.
What do you think is going to be the general reaction to this?
I’m guessing that most people are going to be like, ‘Oh, look – it’s Winnie Cooper!’
Do you want to stab people who still call you Winnie?
People talk about ‘getting rid of the old image’, and I guess there’s some merit in that. But the truth is that people loved The Wonder Years – I can’t turn my back on it.
But you were a nerd in that show
I was a total nerd. I was actually kind of uppity. And the boys [of The Wonder Years] were pranksters. I never had little brothers, so I was totally not used to hearing a lot of cussing at a young age! I learned what ‘pull my finger’ meant the hard way.
Can you teach us? Pathetically, we still remember the first Kevin and Winnie kiss. Was that your first?
It was. Actually, during the pilot, when we first met, we totally had mutual crushes. It was once the season started going that we became like brother and sister.
Did you have to kiss a lot that day?
The one that aired is the very last take. The first take, I smiled right before we started kissing, and my [onscreen] brother had just died in Vietnam, so I really wouldn’t have been smiling. Then on the last one Fred started stroking my hair afterwards…
After the show you attended college at UCLA, became a super genius and published a paper on ‘Percolation And Gibbs States Multiplicity For Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models On Zsquared’. We enjoyed the part on infinite occupied clusters!
It’s really complicated and not that interesting to most people.
Then you went back into acting, with a cameo on the last episode of NYPD Blue. Did you mind being cast as ‘Crack Ho No.1’?
In that episode a prostitute gets killed, and I play her sister. Maybe after this article comes out people will start giving me grittier roles, but for now people still see me as wholesome.
But you are wholesome!
I was told you’d be asking about sex! I figured there would be some curiosity, but maybe not…
Fine, if we must. What can a guy do to win you over?
I love surprises – champagne and strawberries, all that pampering, romantic stuff. Guys ought to know how to pamper their women properly.
What about buying you lingerie? Does that turn you on?
Well, I haven’t had sex in the changing room, but I’ve had a guy come with me while I tried stuff on. With the guy I’m with now, the goal is ‘How fast can we get that off?’
Around the house, are you carefree or careful?
If it’s just me and my boyfriend, then anything goes. I’m not shy about walking around with nothing on. There’s nothing unclassy about being naked, if it’s appropriate.
Do you consider yourself a serial monogamist, or do you swing?
I am definitely a serial monogamist. I can count on one hand the amount of guys I’ve been with. For whatever reason, I’m just more private. It takes longer to get on the inside.
Do you get a complex living in LA, being surrounded by all the surgically-enhanced boobs?
If I want bigger breasts, that’s what my Wonderbra is for. My boyfriend, luckily, is an ass man.
Us too! Well, ass and boobs. More boobs, really.
Look, if a guy really wants big, big breasts, I’m not the one. I’m more of a slim, small-framed person.
And if he wants love and devotion?
He wants that – look no further.
MORE GIRLS
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