KATIE COURIC

Just three weeks before her 53rd birthday, Katie Couric sat down with Harper's Bazaar to dish about Botox, Sarah Palin, and what it's like to date a younger man. Couric, who rose through television news ranks to become the first solo female anchor in network history, also posed for a tough-and-sexy photoshoot featuring smoky, kohl-rimmed eyes, a one-shouldered Calvin Klein sheath and a pair of Gucci platform shoes that might induce vertigo in the uninitiated.

Though Couric herself is surgery-free, she freely admits to a belief in Botox: "I think if you want to do some tweaks here and there, there's nothing wrong with that." But that isn't to say Couric is unhappy with her looks. The veteran journalist -- whom Sarah Palin once dismissively referred to as "The Perky One" -- seems glad to be aging, saying that her looks (her "Tinkerbell nose" in particular) were "a real detriment" in her younger days.

The high-fashion spread comes at a controversial time for Couric, whose multimillion-dollar salary has come under fire amid layoffs at her network. There are rumors Couric will be taking a pay cut, but the higher-ups at CBS News insist it won't come to a layoff for their star.

"I am not anticipating, nor do I want to anticipate, life at CBS News without Katie Couric," says CBS News chief Sean McManus.

As for Palin, in the Bazaar article Couric briefly revisits the infamous, election-changing interview in which the governor of Alaska stumbled and fumbled her way through Katie's hard-hitting questions about foreign policy and her reading habits.

"One day, I will talk about it at length," Katie says, but for now she's focused on defending herself against Palin's charge that Couric asked her certain questions more than "twelve times."

"I think I probably had to re-ask because she wasn't as responsive as she needed to be," Couric argues.

When it comes to her dating life, Couric is happy to dish. She has been dating 35-year-old entrepreneur Brooks Perlin -- with whom she shares a much-talked-about 17-year age gap, something she claims has no impact on their relationship. She also doesn't agree with derogatory terms used to describe women who date younger men.

"I just find it stupid," she says. "I think it also surmises that the older woman is always the pursuer. That's not necessarily true. I always say that maybe the older woman is the prey and someone else is the predator. It's just silly."

photo courtesy of Harper's Ferry