FELICITY HUFFMAN IS FINALLY GETTING RECOGNIZED IN PUBLIC IN HER SECOND SEASON AS A DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE -- "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY

It took a full hit season and then some, but "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman is finally being recognized in public for being a Wisteria Lane denizen. Huffman, who is also attracting attention for playing a transsexual in the film, "Transamerica," talks to Lesley Stahl for a 60 MINUTES profile to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 15 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Until recently, says Huffman, she couldn't get arrested as a television star, but in the second season of the hit show, that changed. "The last month people have recognized me, month and a half," she tells Stahl.

Does she like it? "It doesn't happen that often," she says.

And even when it does, the notice is not always for her television or movie roles. Just as she was getting used to being recognized, she tells Stahl, a funny thing happened when she was shopping for clothes. "I was in Barney's and someone came and tapped me on the shoulder and I was like, 'Here it comes,' and I turned around and she goes, 'Could you tell me where the gloves and scarves are, please?'

"At least I look like I work at Barneys. I'm looking good!" she says.

She didn't always feel she looked good. In her late teens and into her 20s, Huffman battled bulimia and then anorexia until she entered therapy. She admits to starving herself to look thin in some of her early roles. A poor self image goes right to the heart of the character she plays in "Transamerica" -- a man who wants to become a woman and does so through surgery.

"I know what it's like to wake up and be in agony in your own skin," she tells Stahl.

In addition, Huffman discusses motherhood, her childhood and the relationship between her and her "Desperate Housewives" castmates. The profile also contains a joint interview with Huffman and her actor husband, William H. Macy.