Cover Girl: Hilary Swank on InStyle Magazine

Oscar winning actress Hilary Swank graces the February issue of InStyle magazine to talk about life after Chad. Her and her husband, Chad Lowe separated over a year ago and divorced after eight years of marriage. 'Tis a shame. Eight years in Hollywood is like a lifetime.

At the cover shoot, Hilary got nothing but praise for her professional demeanor. "She's just really down-to-earth, friendly and warm," said assistant stylist Cristal Butler. "She likes to keep things simple."

"The best thing about working with Hilary is that she looks good and has great hair," said hairstylist Kevin Ryan. "It makes my job easy!"

As for her love life these days, mum's the word. "I'm in a relationship with a great guy who's not a public person, and I want to respect that. But yes, I am in a relationship." That guy is her agent, John Campisi.

"I've never lived alone before, ever," says Swank, who won Oscars for "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby." "I went from living with my mom right to living with Chad. Now with my travelling a lot and not staying any place for long, I have a box filled with floating receipts, makeup I'll never wear, random dog toys, and a stack of greeting cards I pick out for friends, which inevitably end up in some storage unit."

Currently she is starring in Freedom Writers, a Paramount Pictures release, and in the meantime, she's working on herself. She says she learned to let her guard down after her breakup with Lowe."I absolutely couldn't have made it through the last year without my friends," she says. "It was hard for me to say, 'Yeah, I need help.' But I did let go, and it was a relief."