Cindy Margolis to pose for Playboy

Cindy Margolis, known as the "Most Downloaded Woman" on the Internet, is following up her win on "Celebrity Cooking Showdown" with a career first - posing nude for Playboy.

The mother of three told The Associated Press that she finally agreed to pose for the magazine when they called on her 40th birthday.

"Thank goodness for 'Desperate Housewives.' You're not dead just because you are married and have children," the actress and model said Monday, on the phone from her Los Angeles home.

After turning down offers to pose for the magazine in the past, Margolis said she accepted this time because she felt posing nude at the age of 40 is empowering.

"In the past it would have been for gratuitous reasons," she said.

Now, Margolis said, she is enjoying being the ultimate desperate housewife.

"It will be fun to go up against the 20-year-olds and show them that they don't have anything on me," she said.

Margolis has appeared in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and the annual "Lingerie Bowl."

She has made headlines in recent years for her struggles with infertility. She is the national spokeswoman for Resolve: The National Infertility Association and is also writing a book about the subject.

"I just want to make it more mainstream for people to understand infertility, to understand surrogacy and adoption," she said.

Margolis, a former "Price is Right" model, gave birth to son Nicholas in 2002 after a high-risk pregnancy. The child was her first with husband, Guy Starkman. In 2005 Margolis and Starkman welcomed twins Sabrina and Sierra into the family. The twins were carried by a surrogate mother, and are biologically the couple's by in-vitro fertilization.

"It doesn't matter how you get your baby, even if it's via FedEx as long as you get to hold your precious baby in your arms. You can have your miracle child," Margolis said.