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Jennifer Lopez is hotter than ever!
After taking some time off from the celebrity spotlight, megastar Jennifer Lopez is back with two new albums and films. Is she still a Cristal-sipping diva?
By Louis Gannon
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Finding real love
Less than six months later, Lopez married 38-year-old Anthony. She was well aware that every critic out there was just waiting to see the relationship fail. But this time, it really was different. First of all, she married a man who is secure in his own status as one of America's biggest Latino stars and a man she respects hugely for his talent as a musician. Most importantly, the couple shares a similar history: both were born into working-class Puerto Rican families who lived within a few kilometres of each other, and she even dated him briefly in 1999. "Marc has known me for years," she says. "He has seen me through every stage -- in good times and bad times -- and he was always just there." Lopez pauses and smiles as she explains: "You know, when you're very young, you think that it's all about the big, dramatic stuff: the diamonds, the excitement and that sort of thing. As you get older, you realize that what keeps a relationship going in the more humdrum, domestic stuff. I wanted to have that with Marc. I wanted to stay home and cook for him -- to be there when he came in the door and to be the one doing something small, like bringing him a Coke when he sat down at the table. I wanted to look after his needs. I know that people have criticized me a lot in the past, and I'm the first to admit that I've made mistakes along the way." She laughs. "You see, I now think of myself as the great explorer of love -- a kind of Christopher Columbus of romance. I've been through some rough seas and I've had some disasters, but in the end I found what I was looking for." She bursts out in a fit of giggles. "Can you believe I just said that?" she says, then pauses. "But it's all true."
Perhaps the greatest test of their relationship came when Anthony co-produced her latest album -- her first ever in Spanish entitled Como Ama Una Mujer (How a Woman Loves). It's a hugely romantic, ballad-filled epic of an album. Lopez's voice has never sounded so pure or confident. "That's because it's all about love," she says. "And that's what I know about -- the good and the bad. Working with Marc made it the best recording experience of my life. As a singer, I often feel insecure, and a producer will give me a lot of directions and advice about how to use my voice. Marc didn't do any of that. He just looked at me and said: 'I know you can do this. Sing the words. You know what they mean. You can do it.'"
The famous body
Indeed. Lopez is back with a vengeance with the upcoming release of two new movies -- El Cantante and Bordertown (for the latter, she was recently given a humanitarian award by Amnesty International) -- and another album that's due out this fall. "When I first told my mom that I wanted to go into show business, she gave me the best advice. She said, 'Hey, if you want to be in that business, don't ever let me catch you crying.' I've had some tough times over the past few years because I've gone through this process of adjustment. But I'm never going to ask for sympathy because I know that what I have is unbelievable. You have to be grateful for what you have in life and make the best of it."
In body terms, no one believes this more than Lopez. For the past decade, she has remained a steady size 6 and point-blank refuses to bow to the current super-skinny double-size-0 trend. She shakes her head. "For me, looking good is all about looking healthy, and the ultimate beauty secret is being happy with yourself," she says. "I couldn't ever be a size 0 -- I just don't see how I could get down to that size and still be healthy. I have a butt, I have boobs and I have a woman's curves -- there's no way I'd see them go to size 0. In Hollywood, I've always been seen as a big girl. But I like my body. My husband likes my body! I'm not obsessive: I work out with a trainer two or three times a week, but I'll go months without any exercise at all. I just keep myself in check."
Lopez is definitely looking better than ever. Her skin is glowing, and her hair --back to its natural dark brown -- is shiny and lustrous. "I don't do anything fancy," she says. "I just try to stay as healthy as possible. I don't even use a moisturizer these days. I see a dermatologist, who gives me a sunscreen that I use daily. Other than that, I use nothing. The only time I moisturize my whole body is when I go on a long flight. I keep my skin hydrated by drinking water, and I always get eight hours' sleep."
As Lopez laughs and raises her hand to her face, one can't help but notice the massive blue-diamond ring on her index finger. "Isn't it gorgeous?" she says. "Marc gave it to me for our first anniversary. In the morning, he gave me a little ornament and I thought it was sweet, but, later, when I was cooking his dinner, he came up behind me and just thrust this into my hand. He was so excited about it, he didn't even wrap it. I love it! I wear it every day, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. It makes me realize that, whatever happens, I'm a very lucky girl."
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Image courtesy of WireImage.com
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