Pink covers the March issue of Redbook – has anyone else noticed that Redbook is doing a bang-up lately with scoring good/notable interviews from 30-plus women lately? It’s gotten to the point where I enjoy Redbook interviews more than Vogue interviews. Anyway, Pink got the cover and she’s talking about a lot of different stuff – body image, femininity, her marriage, being healthy. She comes across as… well, refreshingly real. Like, I actually think Pink is a great role model for young women. If I had a daughter, I would be pushing Pink ahead of Selena Gomez, Rihanna and even Ke$ha. Here are some highlights from Pink’s interview:

On how she reconciled with husband Carey Hart after their 2008 separation:
“Eleven months after we broke up, he asked me to fly to Las Vegas to perform on New Year’s Eve at his club. I wanted to see him. And I looked hot. There’s something about breaking up with someone — you just look hotter than you ever did before. I will never look as good as I did those six months after we broke up. Never! [Laughs] Anyway, after sound check I told him that he needed to come to my room. I had made him a photo album of all the cards he had ever given me, of all the photos of our entire relationship. I spent months on this album. On the last page, I pasted a photo of me from a really bad movie I made years ago with my neck slit and blood everywhere. Next to it I wrote, ‘This is me without you.’ On the next page, there was a picture of a baby. And I wrote: ‘The rest is unwritten.’ The divorce papers that we never signed were behind that page. I was like, ‘The rest is up to you.’ And I did all of this in his favorite bra and panties.”

On what makes her feel beautiful:
“Well, I was always considered butch. Feeling beautiful to me is when I feel good in my leather pants and my husband grabs my ass. Or when I’m sitting on a mat and my daughter runs to me with complete joy. Beautiful has never been my goal. Joy is my goal — to feel healthy and strong and powerful and useful and engaged and intelligent and in love. It’s about joy. And there’s such joy now.”

On her self-confidence:
“‘A girl like me’ is someone who doesn’t rest on her looks, who has had people tell me from day one, ‘You’re never going to get magazine covers because you’re not pretty enough.’ I’m totally comfortable with that. I know my strong points: I work hard, I have talent, I’m funny, and I’m a good person.”

Giving birth:
The first night after delivering Willow, Pink adds, a nurse in the hospital spent time helping her adapt to life with a newborn. “We sat up and talked all night with my baby in my arms, and it was like my whole life made sense, for the first time, ever.”

[From Redbook & People]

A lot of celebrity women talk a good game about the “real” priorities, but most of the time it feels like they’re full of it. But I don’t think Pink is. I think she’s come a long way and she’s comfortable in her own skin and she really does feel like “Beautiful has never been my goal. Joy is my goal — to feel healthy and strong and powerful and useful and engaged and intelligent and in love.” Sigh… I love her.

Photos courtesy of Redbook.