AMANDA PEET: ‘I have an inner conflict'

AMANDA Peet says she tries to keep her sexy body in check — but she often wonders why she bothers.

The 37-year-old actress — who stars opposite John Cusack in the brilliant new movie 2012 — admits she realizes she can’t stop her body from aging.

“It’s not really working,” Peet told Parade magazine. “I have an inner conflict. I’ll be at the gym and I’ll start thinking, ‘What am I doing? I’m going to sag no matter what I do.’

“I’ve certainly taken my clothes off on camera, but you have body make-up and special lighting.

“I mean, someone with a figure like Jennifer Aniston has a trainer, a cook spinning out some version of the latest diet, and probably a stop at the tanning salon. Then teenage girls go, ‘God, I wish I could look like that.’ Maybe they wouldn’t if they knew what it took.’”

Peet — who has a daughter, Frances Pen, with her screenwriter husband David Benioff — then opened up about returning to New York after living in Los Angeles.

“I feel very vulnerable even though I grew up here,” she said. “I mean, it’s a huge crowded city where 9/11 happened. Sometimes if they raise the alert level or something I walk down the subway steps and wonder if I’m going to be in danger.

“I guess I think about it most when I’m on the subway. But I always say to myself, ‘Just get on the train and don’t give in to this sh**.’”

The actress also revealed that she’d like to do a romantic comedy with Cusack.

“2012 is our third film together and at least we sort of got to be lovers more than we ever have been before. John has this kind of vulnerability, this kind of Tom Hanks everyman quality, but he’s a little more edgy with this great dry sense of humor. I just think he’s wonderful.”