MUMBAI: Playtex Secrets and Desperate Housewives star Alfre Woodard (Betty Applewhite) have got together to unearth secrets of American housewives. The findings of the survey revealed that nearly three out of four (72 per cent) married women have a deep secret.

Woodard teamed up with Playtex Secrets to share a few secrets -- no, not from Wisteria Lane, rather from America's desperate -- and not so desperate -- housewives.

Playtex Secrets -an elegant intimate apparel line for full-sized women - commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a national survey of more than 1,300 married US women regarding their deepest secrets to coincide with the introduction of its new Legacy Lace bra collection.

"The Playtex Secrets survey truly uncovered some thought-provoking and provocative secrets of real American housewives. In fact, many of the findings would make great fodder for a storyline on the show!" said Emmy Award winner Woodard.

The Playtex Secrets survey found that:

To Tell or Not to Tell
The secret is out, nearly three of four (72 per cent) married women say they have a deep secret. Apparently, many of these women don't want to air their dirty laundry, as more than one out of three (35 per cent) have not divulged their secret to anyone.

Between the Sheets
Women disclosed a bit more about their activities between the sheets than the old cliche 'what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom' might suggest. When asked to describe the romantic connection with their husbands, about one in five married women (21 per cent) said that sex with their husbands is rare.

On the other hand, approximately three in 10 married women (29 per cent) said they and their husband could use a second honeymoon. Only 15 per cent of married women described the romantic connection with their husbands as "always hot and heavy."

It's Just a Little Crush
Nearly half of married women (44 per cent) say they have ever had a secret crush. Surprisingly, nearly half of those women (48 per cent) are secretly having a crush on someone they work with -- a co-worker, colleague or even their boss. Perhaps even more revealing, about one in five (21 per cent) admit to having secretly admired their husbands' friend(s).

Monster In-Law?
Among married women who know or have known their mother-in-law, about three in 10 (29 per cent) describe their relationship as one of toleration. Shockingly, as many as one in five (20 per cent) say they'd love for their mother-in-law to move in with them.

Chatty Katty
About three in five married women (61 per cent) say they gossip. Among those who gossip, 31 per cent say they gossip about their boss, coworker or colleague, while three in 10 (30 per cent) dish about their neighbours. More than one in four (28 per cent) gossip about their in-laws, and about one in five (22 per cent) talk about their husbands.

Harris Interactive fielded the online survey on behalf of Playtex between 3 to 5 January and 10 to12 January, 2006 among a total nationwide sample of 1,348 married US women 18 years of age or older.

The data were weighted to be representative of the total US adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity and propensity to be online.

In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 per cent certainty that the results for the overall sample of married women have a sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. Sampling error for the sub-samples of married women who say they have a deep, dark secret (973), who say they have had a secret crush (565), who know or have known their mother-in-law (911) and who gossip (784) is higher and varies.