MENS FITNESS: JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT

She turned heads—and sent hearts racing—as a sweet young thing in flicks like I Know What You Did Last Summer and the award- winning drama Party of Five. Now, Jennifer Love Hewitt is all grown-up and delivering messages from the dead on CBS’ hit series Ghost Whisperer. Luckily for us, at age 28 she’s still just as hot as ever.

MF: You’re looking pretty hot in your new Hanes commercials— what type of underwear do you feel sexiest in?

JLH: [Laughs] Oh, gosh! Anything soft and simple. I wear a lot of Victoria’s Secret underwear. And obviously Hanes.

Was believing in ghosts a prerequisite to getting the lead on Ghost Whisperer?

It’s hard to act in the show every single day and not believe in them. I definitely believe that there are strong energies out there, and our loved ones can come back and figure out ways to let us know that they are still thinking about us.

Has anything crazy or weird ever happened on the set?

Yeah, we’ve had a lot of strange things happen. We’ve had lights move on their own and lights explode over actors’ heads before. We’ve also had ghosts show up in our footage.

If you had your character’s gift of talking to the dead, whom would you want to connect with?

My grandfather. We called him Papa. He was one of my favorite people in the world. I’d love to catch up with him and see how he’s doing.

Halloween is just around the corner. What’s your favorite scary movie?

It’s a toss-up between The Omen and The Shining. I’m not a huge scary- movie fan, but those two I like.

Do you dress up for Halloween? Any memorable costumes?

One year I went as a sexy Snow White. [Laughs] My skirt was really short.

When it comes to dating, what’s your favorite part of a man’s body?

His smile. That’s always the first thing I check out.

How can a guy get a girl like you?

Just by being genuine and trustworthy. And funny.

You’ve been described as the typical girl next door, which guys seem to love in a woman. Why do you think that is?

The girl next door is the kind of girl you marry. There are lots of types of girls. You can be a sexy or wild girl, but that stuff is essentially fake. The girl-next-door type is based more on a woman’s insides, her beliefs and how she conducts herself. It’s classier and more elegant.

Is having that kind of reputation something you embrace? Is there a wild side to you?

No. [Laughs] I definitely don’t have a wild side. Every girl goes through a phase where she wishes she was sexier. I used to hate always being called cute. [Laughs] Now I think it’s a really great compliment. I’ll stick with that.