Actor Steve Carell was so certain he was going to be bombarded with questions about his first sexual experience while promoting his new movie, he and his wife made a pact to keep it secret.

Carell, star of the US adaptation of hit UK series The Office, has scored a box office hit with his movie THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. But along with the success came confirmation of a deep fear - that he'd be probed on his early sex life.

He says, "I could invent 50 different responses (to questions about losing my virginity). It was on top of the Eiffel Tower and it was windy and cold and we were both shivering and in love.

"But the other was based on what my wife said when I approached her with the subject. She said, 'Don't tell them.' I guess I do that too.

"Ultimately, I think my response is it was like everybody else's loss of virginity. It was so mundane, so average, so quick, so uneventful, so uninspiring and awkward and weird which I think everyone that I one has had the same sort of experience."