Julianne Moore covers the April issue of Harper’s Bazaar. She’s such a beautiful redhead, but I’m not sure if Duchess Kate-esque curls are her best look. Bazaar conducted this interview in the heat of the Oscar campaign – the bulk of the interview takes place on the same day as the Oscar nominees’ luncheon – but considering everyone knew Julianne was going to win, she seems at peace here. Like, she wasn’t trying to come across any particular Oscar-friendly way. If anything, I think this interview would have caused a minor ruckus if it was released before the Oscars, mostly because of Julianne’s casual use of “queer” as a pejorative. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

She hates the red carpet mani-cam: “I’m 54 years old. I can’t make my fingers walk; it’s humiliating! And a guy asked me to lift up my skirt to show them my shoes, and I said, ‘I don’t need to do that. Let’s keep some dignity.’ ”

The red carpet marathon, with kids: “It helps that the children are older. When I did this before—all four of the other nominations—my kids were babies. It’s easier doing it without an infant, put it that way. Poor Rosamund Pike. She just had a baby. It’s really tough. And she looks f–king awesome. But I’ve been there! With my daughter, I’d been nursing her almost a year, and one of my boobs conked out, so I was completely uneven.” Cutlets to the rescue? “Oh, yeah! It’s not glamorous at all, by the way.”

She fully admits she watches what she eats: “We’d all be lying if we said we aren’t watching what we eat. Of course we are! I think we’re also really stressed. I’m not a stress eater. I get nervous and I don’t eat. But, you know, I had a dress on the other day, and I said to my manager, ‘When you see my back fat sticking out, tuck it back in!’ ” Chuckle. “Be a friend.”

She uses “queer” as a pejorative? “I have great kids. I have a great husband—and I know it sounds queer! My son and daughter both play basketball, and my husband and I do our best to go to every game. We try to spend time as a family. We just try to be super involved in each other’s lives… The fact that they get involved in all of this—it’s a good thing!”

Which actresses she loves: “Ellen Page [who stars as Moore’s girlfriend in the upcoming Freeheld]. Kristen Stewart, I just love her. Emma Stone is fabulous. I love Catherine Deneuve. I love Tilda Swinton. But women are fabulous. I like our camaraderie, our similarities, how we collaborate. When my daughter was born, I looked at her in the bassinet and I said, ‘You’re one of us.’ I’m going to cry if I think about it too much. I had this little girl and was like, ‘Yup. You’re one of us. ‘”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

It really upsets me that she’s using “queer” as a pejorative, like “loving my family is totally gay.” Really, Julianne? Do you think we’re going to get an apology for that, or will Julianne be able to coast on goodwill? Will GLAAD give her a pass because she’s always been so publicly supportive of LGBTQ issues?

Update: A lot of commenters feel like Julianne was using “queer” to mean “odd” or strange. I see the argument, but I still believe she was using the word like “loving my husband is so gay.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Bazaar.