It’s the most talked-about butt in the world, no doubt about it, around which all sorts of speculations have been spun. During a one-on-one with Conversations in August last year in New York for her starrer The Cell, Jennifer vehemently denied that, uh, her butt had been insured for one billion dollars, saying not a single part of her celebrated body is insured (unlike Angie Dickinson’s million-dollar legs) and the yarn was "the craziest story" she’d ever heard about her.
There are more, such as 1) when she and boyfriend Sean "Puff" Combs go out, they do so with an entourage of bodyguards, 2) she’d sleep only on sheets with a minimum of 250 threads per inch, and 3) she has given Combs, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, a $40,000 pinkie ring and Combs reciprocated with a stash of jewelry (including a diamond cross and a $60,000 Frank Muller watch).
Jennifer would react to all these in due time, don’t worry.
Not a member of media gathered last Monday at the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong for the Asian press launch of Jennifer’s second album for Sony Music, J. Lo, dared ask Jennifer about that butt nor about Puff Daddy, warned as everybody was before the open forum that Jennifer was prevented by a US court to answer any questions about Puff Daddy – not even if it’s true that they’re on the brink of separation or have already split up – or, specifically, about the gun-possession case filed against Puff Daddy in connection with a December 1999 disco incident in New York (Jennifer, who was with him at that time, has been cleared of any wrongdoing; the case is pending in court).
As far as the expensive gifts swapped between Jennifer and Puff Daddy are concerned, so what if they – or any other lovers who can afford it – lavish each other with all the moolah and the jewelry in the world, as long as they’re spending their hard-earned money? So what?
Jennifer went to Hong Kong (she proceeded to Australia) flashed with a double-whammy victory. J.Lo sold 272,000 copies during its weekend release last month, threatening to break the multi-platinum record set by her previous album On the 6 (named after the train Jennifer would take from The Bronx to Manhattan during her struggling years), which carries the hit songs If You Had My Love and Waiting for Tonight. Her new movie, The Wedding Planner (released locally by Pioneer Films, second week of March), is a big hit, grossing more than $14 million on opening weekend, again making Jennifer a favorite media baby and thrusting her into the glare of mixed publicity.
Conversations (among the hundred or so invited to the Hong Kong event from all over Asia) did another one-on-one with Jennifer who was, like she was during the New York interview, as warm as ever – muy caliente, as the western press would describe the Latin diva’s disposition – and very friendly (why, she even addressed me by my nickname, after going over a clipping of my first Conversation with her, saying, "Hi, Ricky. How are you? I remember you from that New York interview!") and very engaging as usual, even if the Conversation veered towards "talking sexy" from less controversial (but no less interesting) topics.
Jennifer was "game," as usual.
Why did you call your new album J. Lo (which she co-produced)?
"I wanted to call it A Passionate Journey because the album reflects my passion. But I finally settled for J.Lo because it sounds really nice; it’s the nickname given to me by my fans. All the songs on this album are about love and relationships. Love is a big inspiration in my singing, in my acting, in my dancing. I operate from the heart. That’s who I am. I was born a romantic."
Did you expect your first album (On the 6) to be a huge success (selling more than 7.8 million copies worldwide)?
"I never did, but I was hoping for the best like all artists I guess. What I just do is pour my heart and soul into my music. My music is a reflection of who I am as a person rather than me just playing a role, like a character in a movie. I guess you just hope that somebody out there relates to your music, that people out there understand it and relate to it."
Do you have any favorite song from the (J.Lo) album?
"All the songs on it are my favorites. I just can’t pick out one as my favorite. It’s just like giving birth to many children and choosing one as your favorite. It’s not fair."
Do you think media has been unfair to you?
"I don’t really give it too much thought. I don’t focus on something that I have no control of, something I can’t do anything about. I’ve stopped worrying about what they write about me, most of them not true. You know what I mean? The only thing I can control is my work and what I do and that’s where I’d rather concentrate on, where I try to do my best."
When you read a story which you think is unfair to you, something you think is negative or offensive, how do you react?
"Like any other human being . . . I get hurt."
Don’t you cry in private or explode in anger?
"I couldn’t be crying all the time. No, I don’t cry at all. Do I explode in anger? No, I don’t."
How does bad publicity affect you?
"It’s hard when you’re first exposed to it, but you somehow learn to just shrug it off. But when they start to write really bad things that affect the people you love, you get really bothered. Eventually, though, you realize it’s a losing battle and you learn to just cope with it. You just tell yourself, ‘You know what, they don’t know the truth, but you and people you love do,’ and that’s all that matters."
What about your friends? How do they react to bad publicity about you?
(Laughs) "Oh, they love it, they joke about it! They even like the negative stuff because they know it’s not true. They tell me, ‘Hey, look what they wrote this time! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Very funny.’ I guess that should be the best attitude, the best reaction."
You’ve made, well, a clean breast of the "butt" issue. Now, do you and Puff Daddy really go out with an entourage of bodyguards?
"Actually, the entourage they’re talking about is a group of people who help me manage my life, they’re like my family, people who work for me. They even call me Ma. I have a manager, a publicist, an assistant . . . that’s about all. I don’t call them an entourage. I wouldn’t be able to do my work without them, I wouldn’t be able to function. I’d love to do things by myself but there aren’t enough hours in the day. Yes, I have a security but even if I hate it, even if I’m always trying to escape, I can’t do without it."
What about the 250-thread issue?
"Isn’t it a ridiculous story? You know, that I’d only sleep on sheets that had a minimum of 250 threads per inch. I have no idea where they got that stuff. Crazy, isn’t it?"
Can you elaborate on what you said about your being a born romantic?
"I believe in unconditional love and doing things for people you care about. We always cry when people pass away. But do we ever ask ourselves, ‘Did we show them love when they were around, when they were alive and could still feel your love?’ Little things make such a difference – that’s what’s romantic, like making a big deal about somebody’s birthday."
As a role model for teenage girls especially, do you feel any responsibility?
"Yeah. But the way I feel is that you can’t take on the responsibility of the world. If you do, you feel kind of reined in. You know what I mean? You start telling yourself, ‘You have to do this so that others will follow your example; don’t do this because others might do it, too.’ You just live your life. Like I won’t do anything that I think is wrong, like rob a bank or kill a person. This much I can say about myself: I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. But I’m just human like you and anybody else, and things can happen. I do feel that it’s nice that teenagers, especially girls, have somebody to look up to in me, so I’m not going to do anything that will disappoint them."
In the MTV for the single Love Don’t Cost a Thing (from J.Lo), you start discarding your jacket, your shirt, your accessories and other worldly things as you walk into the sea, until you’re shown only wearing your bikinis. Does the act symbolize anything, something like a rejection of things material?
"Yeah, in a way, because that’s what the song is saying, love costs so little. Listen to the lyrics carefully and they instruct a wealthy suitor to woo (the girl) not with money but with attention and devotion. I’m the kind of person who’s touched by thoughtful gestures. You can move me to tears by giving me a rose or a card with a meaningful thing to say."
There must have been something in your childhood that explains this kind of outlook in life.
"It must have been shaped by my watching my (Puerto Rican) parents (David, a computer technician, and Guadalupe, a kindergarten teacher) raise three of us daughters in The Bronx. We didn’t have a lot of money, so it wasn’t extravagant things that our parents gave each other. My Dad knew that my Mom liked grapes so he’d bring home grapes in summer when grapes were perfect and plump and ripe. Sometimes, she’d bring home my Mom’s favorite candies. Those thoughtful little gestures really struck a chord in me."
Let’s talk about something more visible. Your body. Of course, it flatters you that people find you sexy.
"Of course! Any woman would be flattered to be called sexy. You know what I mean? Show me a woman who doesn’t want to be called sexy. If a woman says she doesn’t want to be called sexy and attractive I’ll tell you that she’s lying. No woman wants to be called ugly."
Are you happy with your body?
(Laughs some more) "Oh, yes, I am, I am!
What do you feel is the sexiest part of your body?
(Thinks awhile) "The sexiest part of my body? I don’t know. Oh, maybe my waist."
What do you find sexy in a man?
"It’s not really something physical; it’s something inside the man, his essence as a man."
What do you notice first in a man?
"Oh, the way he carries himself."
Once you get to know him, what attracts you next?
"His character."
What else?
"Of course, he has to smell good, to smell clean."
You said in our first interview that your beauty secret is simple: moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. Do you still do it?
"Oh, yes, I do."
What about diet?
"You know, I just watch what I eat. I don’t eat too much. I eat only enough. I don’t feel good when I eat too much. I like feeling good and feeling healthy, eating right. I also don’t feel good when I eat the wrong things or when I don’t work out for months because of too much work."
Aren’t you bothered by the fact that many people seem to focus more on your, well, famous butt than on your import as a person and talent as an artist?
"Yes, some people do see the ‘body image’ and not what I really am as a person. To me, what’s important is what you are and what people perceive you to be, what comes from inside and not so much what you see outside. It’s not only about physical beauty, you see. It’s what your essence is as a person."
How do you keep your sanity in such an insane world as showbiz?
"I pray; I’m a prayerful person. I’m Catholic. I went to a Catholic school and I went to mass everyday."
How do you unwind?
"I don’t need to. When you enjoy your work, it doesn’t feel like work at all. So it feels like holiday even when I’m working."
Tell us more about your new movie, The Wedding Planner. How different is it from your past movies (like Out of Sight with George Clooney, Selena where she played the slain Latin singer, The Cell where she played a psychiatrist or Anaconda where a huge snake competed with her for audience attention)?
"The Wedding Planner is a romantic-comedy and I love doing it because I feel more at-home in romantic-comedies. I enjoy doing this kind of movie. I play the title character, Maria, an over-achiever so absorbed in her job - creating a feeling of romance for other people’s weddings - that she barely notices the emptiness of her own romantic life."
What happens to Maria in the end?
(Laughs) "You have to watch the movie to find out!" (Matthew McConaughey, her co-star, said in an interview, "Jen is definitely a romantic, a dreamer. She has a real sweetness that not everyone sees, like an eight-year-old girl. She loves Romeo and Juliet and the idea of a knight in shining armor coming over the hill to take her away - then it’s till death do us part, until eternity.)
If you were to plan your own wedding (she was once married but divorced the guy after only one year), how would it be?
"It would be a very simple one, a simple affair."
If you were somebody else, who would you rather be?
(Thinks hard) "I don’t want to be somebody else; I’m happy being myself. I’d rather be myself than be anybody else."
In spite of all the intrigues and the controversies in your life?
(Smiling widely) "In spite of everything!"