For some reason, Jennifer Lopez is on the cover of People Magazine this week. She must be promoting her new action movie Parker, co-starring Jason Statham, which is out next Friday, January 25. (Here’s a link to the trailer, which looks like a lot of other Jason Statham action movies.) In terms of the cover photo, I’m struck by what an awkward pose she’s making and how fried and shaggy her hair looks. They could have put some product in it to smooth some of those flyaways.
It seems funny that Lopez is on the cover of People the same week that her old show, American Idol, premieres with a brand new panel of judges. We just had The Globes too, they could have been front and center instead of on a side panel. It just speaks to Lopez’s vast capacity for self promotion and reinvention, which I grudgingly give her credit for. In a video interview posted on People’s website, Lopez frames her decision to leave Idol as an artistic career choice, not a money decision, which runs counter to stories that she wanted a whopping $17 million to return for a third season and was turned down.
In People’s preview of the interview, Lopez talks about her romance with 25 year-old Casper Smart, and credits him with helping her recover from a tough divorce. She also says that she’s surprised he stays with her and doesn’t get a younger girlfriend. Here’s more, from People:
When Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony split in 2011 after seven years of marriage and two children together, the singer says it felt like “her whole world fell apart.”
But Lopez, 43, credits her boyfriend, choreographer and dancer Casper Smart, 25, with helping her heal after divorce.
“I just got out of a big, heavy, devastating thing, and he’s helped me heal,” she says in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. “He’s been there for me.”
But the singer is well aware that the 18-year age difference between the two draws speculation.
“I ask him, ‘Why don’t you go find a young girlfriend and get out of here? What do you want with me?’ And you think, ‘How long is this gone be?’ You think, ‘Okay, in 10 years I’m going to be like this and you’re going to be like that’ and … men at that age are … I think all different things. The truth is we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re loving this moment right now. We make each other happy.”
Even after several larger-than-life romances that played out in the public eye, Lopez regrets nothing.
“I don’t regret those things – that’s who I am,” she says. “But at least now I’m at a point where I have to recognize that these choices and things that happen are partly because of me and my decisions and I have to be more careful. So I am being more careful.”
I love how Lopez has a 25 year-old boyfriend whom she employs and bankrolls and then wonders why he doesn’t get a younger girlfriend. She also says she’s “being more careful” about her romances, even though she’s dating this kid who is so clearly beneath her. Oh well, he helped her heal and she’s making artistic, not money decisions when she asks for $2 million more a year, gets turned down, and then decides to do something else. I get the sense that Lopez believes her own hype, though, and that she’s not fibbing to the public so much as breathing her own rarefied air.
There’s another new interview with Lopez, on Access Hollywood. She was asked about the recent career success of her ex, Ben Affleck, who just took home Best Director and Best Picture at The Globes for Argo. She had nice things to say about him, which hasn’t always been reciprocated when it comes to Affleck talking about Lopez. She said “I’m always rooting for him” and “We went through a rough time at a certain point and it was like we couldn’t get a break and now to see him be successful and getting what he deserves for what he did made me feel really good.” Note how she said we “went through a rough time,” not he. She seems like she still has feelings for him. Just my take! Also, Lainey pointed out how many of Lopez’s exes were at the Globes. There was Affleck, Diddy, and Bradley Cooper. (I almost forgot that she “dated” him.)
Lopez and Smart at shown at the Globes on 1-13-12, credit: FameFlynet and at The Weinstein Company’s after party, credit: Fayesvision/WENN.com
Break out the Marvin Gaye:
And when I get that feeling
I want sexual healing
Sexual healing, oh baby
Makes me feel so fine
Helps to relieve my mind
Sexual healing baby, is good for me
Sexual healing is something that’s good for me
Dawm! She’s starting to look like an Area 51 alien sketch! The heck?!
What’s with the shiny nose Rudoph?
lol!
That hair is hideous!
Hideous!!!
I knew she was into fur, but I had no idea she’d use an Afghan Hound as a wig! Someone, get the red paint quick!
*BARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFS*
He looks like one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Cowabunga dude. LOL.
Ninja’s in a half-shell, Turtle Power!! (I’m saddened that I remember this theme song)
What’s up with her hair on the cover? Is that a bad wig?
She is not seriously asking why he’s with her??! Ugh!
Why isn’t she asking him why he doesn’t find a nice young MAN to be with?
WTF, she’s not on Idol any more….Can they please stop interviewing her?
And WTF is the deal with her makeup at the GG’s? It’s awful. She looks ugly and scary.
Her make-up artist hates her.
She aimed unbelievably low with him. It will bite her in her ass. He’s like K-Fed 2! And he’s not even attractive! If I’ve had a boyfriend who’s just with me because of fame and money, hell, he’d better be hot!
That is NOT a good cover photo. And is it just my screen or did they overwhiten one of her teeth?
I’m not sure I’d even know it was her, they made her look so different. And not in a good way.
ITA! I didn’t even recognize her at first, she looks so different. And the hair…ugh. Give her some argan oil or something.
I think her nose is different. Nose job again?
Agree… usually when people say ‘I almost didn’t recognize her!’, I think… ok, some photo-shopping, but clearly recognizable. With this cover, I honestly didn’t recognize her! LOL
That pose looks like they told her to do her cougar-prowl. 🙂
Lol, good eye. Looks like a tic-tac.
Hee hee! Or a chip off the old Gary Busey chicklets!
Oh lady please; go terrorize a small child or something.
I know looks aren’t everything but Casper not so Smart is not attractive.
Alas, she already has three to terrorize. Delusional.
She looks awful.
I don’t know how People magazine managed to do it (IMO, despite her cray she’s gorgeous), but she looks terrible on that cover.
Yeah…very unfortunate photo!
Yes, my first thought on seeing that cover was, “Don’t celebrities get veto power over what photos are used?”
If so, then JLo must have approved it. She looks…older in that cover photo.
I’m surprised she okayed it.
Heal yourself! Quit latching on to men with out figuring out your own crap!!! Take sometime to yourself, breath. Its gross having a revolving door of men.
In fairness, I don’t think she has a revolving door, but very publicized relationships. She has been with this kid much longer than I would have guessed. He was CLEARLY a rebound for her. Even she basically admits it.
“I just got out of a big, heavy, devastating thing, and he’s helped me heal,”
Classic rebound, though she has kept him around for a long time. Probably likes dressing him up (and making him shiny, as others have pointed out before). I’m thinking there is a little ‘Demi Moore’ going on as well… being with a young guy probably makes her feel young and hot.
That was poor wording on my part. I do have a problem with depending on someone to fix you or”heal” you. Its nobodys job but yours to make yourself a better person.
her mistake is making him into a relationship. she should have had a fling with him and moved on. it’s not gonna work long-term. but that’s my issue with women dating younger men. men can separate sex and love, so they can have a fling with a much younger person and move on. women always end up trying to make a relationship out of the man they’re sleeping with, regardless of whether he’s relationship material or not. so now she’s buying his love. she shoulda slept with him for a fling, and then went on to a relationship with an age-appropriate man. but no, like most women, since she’s slept with him, she’s trying to make a relationship out of it.
She does NOT pull off that casual look at all. The cover is just strange.
I know. I can’t imagine she’s ever actually dressed like this in real life. I imagine her going to the playground, for example, in heels and a metallic catsuit.
But I just realized she seems to be trying to maybe serve up Jen Garner “realness.” Coincidence? Lol.
haha…. love the heels and metallic catsuit to the playground line 😉
She is looking beat. The pretty glow she used to have is not just serious Botox-shine. And, the heavy eye makeup is no longer her friend.
That cover is a hot mess. Her hair looks like a terrible dry wig and what kind of pose is that?! Ha, she looks ridiculous! Whose idea was that pose? I don’t get it.
She is so deluded. He is with you because of the money, the fame and the perks! I saw photos of one of the golden globes after party, and there he was sitting next to Harvey Weinstein and then being introduced to Diddy in another! Ha.
I’m the same age as Casper and if some hot rich celeb wanted wanted to make me a kept woman, I’d consider it….
I went and looked at the pose again because I was more focused on that hair the first time, and you’re right. WTF?
I know I saw thos pics of Casper with Harvy Weinstein and I couldn’t believe it and then the one of him meeting Puffy. Casper thinks he is huge you can see there is no shyness in him he thinks he is on an equal playing field with these two men. The nerve. Wonder why Harvey wasted his time meeting this loser.
I love how they splashed ‘I HAVE NO REGRETS!!’ all over her on that cover. They clearly believe that’s remarkable news. Like, Lopez should regret loads of things and yet, she doesn’t.
Oh J-Lo… we all know why he stays with you. *face palm*
Maybe the story is to counter to all of Ben Affleck’s recent press and praise. “No regrets.” Right.
She really does seem like she might be holding on to feelings for him.
JLo has started the face-tweaking; I really noticed it at the Golden Globes but that People cover is so air brushed that I can’t tell it’s her.
holy kate hudson!
do magazines figure since they’re losing readers they should completely alter the way the cover subject looks compared to real life? or is it they all use the same cosmetic dentists/surgeons and all morph into each other eventually?
Heads are going to roll over at PEOPLE Magazine once J Lo sees that cover.
I would think she probably approved it. I don’t think celebs are usually just surprised by a cover they did a photo shoot for… are they?
Seriously. It looks like someone has an axe to grind with her.
HOW DID YOU MISS THE SCIENTOLOGY THING ON THE COVER please talk about it kthxbye
I didn’t miss it I just ignored it. Her dad is a lifer in CO$ and she always talks about it as if it’s a legit religion. I expect she does the same here.
I seriously had no idea about this. Yikes!!
OMG I had no idea about that either! WHAT was Ben thinking back then?!
**
what does that mean?
That I accidentally quadruple-posted…sorry.
oh okay. i thought maybe it was some lingo or symbol for something. no prob
I still think she and Ben would be perfect together.
🙁 I know there aren’t a lot of Affleck fans on here, but I have always liked him and I hated it when he was with J-Lo.
Always liked Jennifer Garner as well… especially back in the ALIAS days. After she and Ben were in Daredevil together, I remember telling my husband how much I wished they would get together. Not that my hubby cares one way or the other, but I remember he came home from a trip one day, and told me heard somewhere that they were dating. I totally didn’t believe him… thought he was messing with me… and bolted to my computer to confirm… LOL
I like Ben, too. I think the tabs give him a raw deal simply because he doesn’t give them much to work with anymore. Not for a minute do I think he’d be happy with Lopez. Garner has been remarkaby good for him and I believe they will be one of the few HW marriages that goes the distance.
I guess I’m not the only one that suspects Ben is JLo’s one that got away?
Slow news week? A cover of Amy and Tina killing it hosting the Globes would have been better.
That cover photo is terrible. I find her obnoxious but she is a pretty woman- that is not a good look.
She’s another one who would have been better off taking some time for herself and just being with her kids instead of rushing to find another guy.
I still think Ben was the love of her life.
yes, i agree.
it irks me, though, how he continues to mention “that time” in his life.
he did it in his acceptance speech at The Golden Globes the other night.
i can’t remember exactly what he said, but something about highs and the lows – that crazy period in his life…
must this man continue to take swipes at JLo?
why do we need to be reminded that he views his time with her as the lowest time in his life?
it is so unkind, foolish and ungentlemanly…it makes him look like a swine.
UGH
what an a**
be a man.
unless, he hasn’t gotten over her either.
hmmmmm
Thanking his long time agent: “when I was a nobody, when I was a somebody, when I was in a little bit of trouble”
I didn’t get the impression Ben was referring to Jen. Maybe his time in rehab? Or perhaps when his career took a nosedive.
@megsie, I think the troubled times you mention did coincide with when he was with her, hence the connection.
yes, he has talked in the past about his low time being the exact time he was with JLo.
it’s in bad taste, if you ask me.
The highs and lows of his movie career. He had become a joke. He did a bunch of bad movies back to back and/or did horrible acting in them. Many like he said he took for the paycheck. He couldn’t get hired for an acting job in a decent movie. He took a step back and slowly rebuilt his career, like taking the small part in the George Reeves movie, directing and writing the screenplay for Gone Baby Gone, slowly rebuilding his credibility in the movie industry bit by bit. To be standing there with an award must be surreal.
Ha! ..On the cover, isn’t that Susan Summers?… Still looking good at 60+
“I ask him, ‘Why don’t you go find a young girlfriend and get out of here? What do you want with me?’
The things no young girl could ever give him? Like, idk, tons of money? A career out of nothing? Brushing shoulders with Hollywood’s elite? Thinking he’s important too because he’s with you? Nice clothes and expensive rides? Lavish trips? People knowing his name? A future looking better than living in a shitty apartment with 5 guys? Something more than a short-lived career as a ~dancer~?
My God, woman. You are the biggest idiot in Hollywood. Here’s another useless douchebag becoming rich and famous thanks to you. I see a reality show and a line of clothes after they’re over. This is not love.
This, exactly. To be fair, she’s not the only celebrity who’s being fooled by a golddigger/famewhore. But it sounds like she has a problem being single.
If you’re having fun with a boytoy, then fine. Enjoy. Madonna does it all the time, but the difference is that she doesn’t give them careers and jobs, and possibly children, setting their lazy asses for life. Their company, their bed, their money, their mansions, is already more than enough. But by being a complete idiot like Britney, they end up giving everything to losers who cannot be trusted and who are using them as a way out of a simple life they were destined to have because they’re useless and lazy. Remember when Britney tried to make KFed happen? She opened her eyes too late. That guy does nothing but breed children.
Shakira does it right too. She gets with a guy almost 10 years younger than her, but he’s a soccer star. A millionaire in his own right. With his own life and goals, other than scoring a sugar mamma and taking money that he didn’t earn. Living large as if he deserves it because he deigned to look at a woman who was feeling insecure and old.
Jennifer has a terrible taste in men. She could be dating someone powerful, rich, successful. Never date below you in any sense. Never. At least pick a guy with an actual job. A dentist, a doctor, a teacher. But this guy?
He doesn’t need a hot young girlfriend. He’s gay. Plus, Jennifer is hot as hell and she has him on a great salary and pushing him out there in most interviews with him. Go watch clips of her tour. He is the star featured dancer on her tour. He travels in luxury, staying in her penthouse suites on tour with a hot Latina. Why is he with you? Why wouldn’t he be with that mug of his? He doesn’t exactly look like Jesus, that hot young model Madonna dated right out of her divorce.
There’s a photo of Jennifer, Casper, and Diddy at the GG. It’s an interesting pic.
http://www.gossipcop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/159461717-291×400.jpg
Hey, Jennifer and Casper aren’t hurting anyone, so whatever.
I think she’s beautiful and could do much better. She’s one of those people who dont always photograph well. The cover is not flattering!!
It’s a live for today relationship, nothing wrong with that if they’re having fun. That is a ridiculous comment she made as to why he’s with her. It’s called money my dear and the fact that you are still looking good doesn’t hurt either.
Casper is not gay. I laughed when I read that.
if Jlo and Ben got stuck for an extended period on an elevator together you better believe there would be primal beastiality goin on up in there between them. it’s obvious they both still have feelings. I think he was the “manliest” man she’s ever been with in terms of physical build. Casper is such a twit!! ugghhh. and Jennifer Garner, adore her as a mother and wife, but she is so bland!
Not to pick on you, geegee, but why “bland”? I hear this so often and don’t quite understand the problem.
LOL Maybe a quick F’k. But he probably gets the hives thinking about if he was married to her. His career directing is huge and he has a wife who takes small jobs in between and likes a lowkey life like him. J-LO would have a staff of 20, the children off on tour with her, sandwiching in all the movies she is doing, Idol. She would be bitching at Ben for not being supportive enough or with her and he her. They both dodged a bullet. Hot passion can die quickly from incompatibility in marriage.
God, don’t I know it.
Wow, she’s really looking cat-faced in those Golden Globes pix.
I’m giving Casper a break. If they’re happy together, so be it and good for them.
My opinion too.
that cover doesn’t look like jennifer lopez at all; i think people magazine is confusing jennifer with jessica alba.
Yes! I thought she looked a lot like Alba too!
Wow. She looks about 17 in that pic. BITCH!
Suffice to say, Ben, his wife and adorable children, made JLo look cheesy, sad and desperate in comparison.
She needs to stop going to men for the quick fix and spend some time alone in her skin and get comfortable in it. If for no other reason than the fact she has several children now and not put them through the whiplash of the line of men in her future.
agree.
Couldn’t agree more! It made her look like a fool.Ben could transform his life into success again while Jlo is on her third man ,divorced ,out of work,with a little boy for a step-father for her children;who looks like she found in the street and dressed him up for this event but looks so ridicules next to her.
You bet she wants to be JENNIFER GARNER.And is not going to stop until she gets him.
I find her insufferable but she looks amazing for 43. She’s someone who works hard for that body so I give her props in that regard.
EDIT: Not that 43 is old, I just meant that she looks a good 15 years younger than her age IMO.
Agreed. She looks amazing for any age and we women know that keeping your body looking like that is not easy, especially after 40.
Doesn’t look anything like Jennifer Lopez. They are getting completely out of hand with photoshop when the photo ends up looking nothing like the actual person.
this cover is so UGLY!
there is too much highlighting/contouring makeup going on in the red carpet pics. kardashian makeup.
For a hot second there, I thought that was Jessica Alba on the cover of people.
Also, if by being “more careful” she means that she hasn’t married the boy yet, than I guess she’s made soooome progress.
I saw that messy LA New Year’s Eve Casper Smart was co-hosting. I thought he was a fun guy to hang out with.
heal? everyone knows she’s a giant bitch and now she wants ppl to feel sorry for her
Awkward picture!
She should at least regret that pose, that hair style, and that facial expression. If that was the best photo they took, I’d love to see the outtakes.
man is Alan Harper from “Two and a Half Men” 🙂