When the first promos of And Just Like That hit the internet, many people criticized the cast’s looks as they are now older and more mature women.

However, according to the cast, that’s the whole point. During a recent appearance on Tamron Hall Show, Nicole, 51, defended the cast against ageism criticism.

“My first day was one of the famous lunch scenes and the three of them [Sarah, Cynthia, and Kristin] were so warm and so generous and so beautiful like straight-up gorgeous,” she said. “It shocked me that at that beginning part of the show coming back that everybody was talking about wrinkles and aging and all this stuff. I was thinking if you could even be lucky enough to spend five minutes with these three women in real time you would never say anything like that in your life.”

She continued, “They have built an empire, they have built something that had stood the test of time. I read a quote by Anna Magnani that said, 'Don’t erase my wrinkles. I worked too hard for them.'”

The Soul Food actress doubled down on her comments at a panel for the show at Ludlow House in Manhattan. This time, however, she shared how she feels sexier with age.

“For the first time in my life I feel so incredibly sexy, I feel so ready. I feel like I failed and resurrected myself so many times like you cannot throw me,” she said. “I’m so ready for life all of a sudden; I don’t have these weird insecurities of being 20 years old or 35, I feel so incredible.”

“I’m not really a conspiracy theorist, but I kind of feel like we’ve been given a little bit of an okey-doke,” she added. “Like if the big bad people in the industry or society or whatever can keep us focused on crow’s feet and muffin tops and boobs and stretch marks they’ll make sure we don’t own the building.”

As the saying goes, age ain’t nothing but a number.