Lopez has distanced herself from Combs after his arrest last December for gun possession and bribery, and recent reports announced a split. At the time of going to press his trial was ongoing; he faced up to 15 years in jail if convicted. “Jennifer cares deeply about Puffy,” a friend said just before the trial, “but emotionally she’s moved on”
The trouble started while Lopez and Combs were at a New York club and a punter threw money in Combs face. Gunfire followed, three people were shot and the couple got away in a chauffeured car, jumping 11 red lights before the police stopped them. It’s been reported that Combs tried to bribe his chauffer into saying a gun in the car belonged to him, offering him a £27,000 ring that had been a present from Lopez.
She bought Combs another ring for luck, but rumours abound she’s been having a fling with a dancer, Chris Judd. Perhaps Lopez is returning to her old habits of falling for men less successful then her. “The men I’m attracted to, for some reason, haven’t got it together,” she said. If this is the end of the love affair, Lopez will not have a problem getting a date. Will→
Smith ordered his birthday cake in the shape of her body, and also Russell Crowe said he would have given up playing the lead role in Gladiators to meet her.
Lopez is a tough cookie with relationships and business. “ There’s no point crying in show business,” she says, “I remember when I started on my first job and I didn’t get solo. I called my mother and she told me, “Don’t ever call me crying again.” Lopez also told me how her family are so close, and how much she needs them to keep achieving her successful celebrity career.
At 17, Lopez dropped out of college and devoted herself to dancing and acting. After bit parts in hip-hop videos, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn in a daytime US soap and a sexy part in Anaconda, she landed a sizzling co-star role in ‘Out of Sight’ with George Clooney. Next she starred in her own project, ‘The Cell – then it was on to MTV diva- Dom.
I asked her would she ever have time to have a family of her own? “ I want to get married and have kids, and I’ll do it eventually.” But right now her entourage is her family. “ Look at the people who work for me as my family. They’re with me all the time…back and forth between New York and LA. I have a house in Hollywood Hills, nut its not done up, so I don’t live anywhere.”
So how does she cope with such a frantic life? “When you start having a little success you realise you need help because you have no life,” she explains, “You need someone to help you out, then all of a sudden you need a manager and an assistant and it just grows.”
I asked Jennifer what does she do on them rear days off? “When I get time off, I just like to lounge around at home,” she says. “If I’m lucky, I get a massage-which I love. Maybe it’s because people like myself can’t sit still. We really have trouble just sitting there and not taking and not doing anything, just vegging and relaxing. So having somebody to actual hold you really helps.”
What goes through your mind in those private moments you have spare? “ Well, I ythi8nk I’m happy and I’m lucky,” says Lopez. “My life is surreal, but I’m definitely in reality and I realize what’s happening I appreciate it. I never want to wake up one morning and go, ‘Oh God, I didn’t appreciate that moment when it was happening.’”
I asked Lopez about what was it like working with your co-worker on the ‘Wedding Planner?’ “Doing the ‘Wedding Planner’ was scary,” she admits” I’d never done comedy before. I was nervous because you just don’t know if you’re going to be funny at all.” “I’d loved working with Matthew. He was charming and down-to-earth.” It’s no surprise they eventually got it right-Lopez could have on-screen chemistry with anyone. How does she do it? “You ju7st sit down with someone, you see what their vibes is like, you see if you get along. I like to have a really open relationship with my co-stars, where we can say anything to each other, ask anything to each other, laugh together, have fun together…”
Lopez is now concentrating on her two projects, which are New Thriller Enough, which is out in the US later this year, and a film about Mexican artists Frida Kahlo.
We wish Jennifer, all the best with her new album J.Lo, which is out in the shops now.
