Robin Wright: 'I’ve Never Been Happier'

— -- Robin Wright has arrived, and at 48, she has found love, stardom and happiness.

"I’ve never been happier in my life than I am today," the "House of Cards" star, who is engaged to 34-year-old actor Ben Foster, told the April issue of Vanity Fair.

"Perhaps it’s not ladylike [to say], but I’ve never laughed more, read more … with Ben. He inspires me to be the best of myself. There’s so much to learn. It’s endless. How great! It took me a long time to grow up. Love is possible as life is possible."

Though Wright's split from ex-husband Sean Penn was at times acrimonious, she credits the 54-year-old actor with making her a better lover to Foster.

"I’m not in the business of talking about what 'isn’t,'" she told Vanity Fair when first asked about her marriage to Penn, with whom she shares daughter Dylan, 23, and son, Hopper Jack, 21. "My eyes are set forward and I’ve never been happier. I have too much respect for Sean and our two extraordinary children to sell our past joys and woes for public consumption and fodder."

She added, "I believe we were together not only to have our beautiful children but to learn how to love...for the next time around, the right way. And then, what I’m looking for in people now is kindness."

That's in contrast to Wright's character on "House of Cards," the scheming ice queen Claire Underwood.

"I feel as though I’ve just graduated," Wright said about the role, which has finally brought her stardom and a Golden Globe. "I mean, I never went to college. I was pregnant at 23. You hear people say how they have ‘arrived,’ but it was just always there, waiting to come out. For me, it just took a long time. I’m 48. I’m finally a person. I think I’m finally ready."

As for Claire's much-admired coif, Wright said it was created out of necessity.

"I was just cutting off damaged hair; too much bleach over months of [appearing in] different movies," she said. "It was a mercy killing, but it works for the character."