INQUIRER EXCLUSIVE 'Goodbye To The Whole J.Lo Thing'

NEW YORK-Jennifer Lopez walks into a hotel room already apologizing even before we could see her celebrated backside.

"If my answers don't make sense," she warns, laughing, "let me apologize now."

The singer-actress has just flown back to the East Coast. She was honored earlier at a benefit gala by the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles for her charity work.

Apparently, if we are to believe the diva, flying on a private jet is not much different from catching the bargain-rate red-eye flight from LA to the Big Apple.

"There are no rooms on private jets," she tells the masses-namely, journalists. "It's just like flying regular. You still have to get yourself in the seat. So I was able to make it here."

The Artist Who Changed Her Mind About No Longer Wanting To Be Called J. Lo offers the overnight trip as an explanation for her "slowness" today. She requests reporters not to ask questions in rapid-fire succession. She tells one: "Okay, hold on. Let me answer one at a time because I can't follow (laughs). I can't follow today."

Today, La Lopez also seems eager to put her "Bennifer" days behind her. Mrs. Marc Anthony's reticence, at least this afternoon, to dwell on her personal life, is conveyed in her conservative look. She is all covered up in a long-sleeved silk blouse and long green skirt. However, the skirt is so tight, that her famous behind juts out.

The Latina superstar has retracted an earlier statement that she no longer wanted to be called J. Lo. She wanted to say "goodbye to the whole J. Lo thing," she said, and "the out-of-control diva stories, whether true or not."

She reportedly planned to call her latest album "Call Me Jennifer" but now the CD, to be released in March, is titled "Rebirth."

Doing her best

J. Lo, Jennifer, or Jenny on the Block, whatever, chews gum throughout the interview. Speaking in that sweet, light voice, she steers clear of the personal stuff but maintains a humorous mood. When a writer asks a question and mentions a quote from her, Jenny from the Bronx quips, "A quote from me? Don't believe it." But from time to time, she seems determined to be taken more seriously.

Asked how she copes with press people who "love to tear her to pieces," Mrs. Marc Anthony replies: "Not very well. It hurts. I am just working hard... trying to do the best I can. I am able to deal with it only because I don't live my life in a way that I will be ashamed of. I'm able to go to sleep at night and... feel good about the things that I've done that day. I don't hurt anybody. I love my family. I do my best in relationships and try to be giving [always] because that's how my mom and dad raised me."

The press has been easy these days on Lopez, whose J. Lo diva-hood days reached their nadir when she and then boyfriend P. Diddy were arrested for gun possession and fleeing after a New York club shooting incident (no charges were filed against her).

The only issue hounding her right now is a lawsuit supposedly filed against her by husband Number One, Ojani Noa, a former waiter. He claims the superstar wrongly fired him as manager of Madre's, her restaurant in Pasadena, California. (Husband Number Two, of course, was Filipino-American dancer Cris Judd.)

Does she feel, indeed, that the press frenzy about her has calmed down? "I've become a little more reserved and that was the whole idea-to get the focus off my personal life and on my work again. I feel everything got a little bit out of control for a while. I've worked really hard and tried to grow with each project, [but] it seemed like nobody [noticed] that."

Making adjustments

The former TV back-up dancer (on the series "In Living Color") takes responsibility for her decisions, past and present. "I like to think that I have a really good gut [feel] and that I don't need people to tell me this or that was wrong. Nobody is going to make me become like some weird recluse in my own house. I'm going to stay normal.

"[But sometimes] you have to make adjustments. I certainly have. I love what I do, and I want to be seen for that, not for who I'm with."

As for being called the Elizabeth Taylor of her generation, she admits, "I don't know what they mean when they say that." She is told that it meant her personal life has over shadowed her career. The star agrees: "I definitely have felt that. It's hurtful and insulting."

She does try hard to take things with a healthy dose of humor, like today-fielding questions with cheerful banter. Work is an outlet for frustrations, too. Says Ben Affleck's famous ex-girlfriend: "I've always been able to hide in my work when things are not going so great."

(Richard Gere, who made the hit "Shall We Dance?" with Lopez at the height of the sensational "Bennifer" split, would tell us later how his co-star turned to work as solace, and how she stayed very professional throughout the shoot. In an interview right after Lopez, Gere told Inquirer Entertainment: "You could see clearly that this young woman was going through a lot of stuff but she never brought that to the set, never made it an issue, was never late, was always prepared.")

"Shall We Dance?," an English language remake of the exquisite 1996 Japanese film ("Dansu Wo Shimasko Ka"), is Lopez's first hit film after her back-to-back "Bennifer" bombs, the infamous "Gigli" and "Jersey Girl."

Salsa in her blood

On ballroom dancing with Gere in this romantic comedy, the star, whose "Waiting For Tonight" was named 2000 MTV Music Award's best dance video, reveals: "I had never tried ballroom dancing before. Once I started rehearsing, it was really difficult, technical, very specific. Richard said he had a hard time, too. But working with [him] was great."

Admitting that she has salsa in her blood, being Puerto Rican, she says: "I think we did okay."

Dancing legends Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse get more than an "okay" rating from the entertainer who auditioned for the "Evita" role that went to Madonna. She explains: "When you're a dancer, you basically watch every dance movie that ever existed. I saw a lot of Fred Astaire movies and I loved Cyd Charisse. How easy they made it look!"

Reporters being reporters, we find a way to probe Lopez about her multi-millionaire husband Number Three, Marc Anthony, himself a pop superstar. How did Marc dance himself into her heart?

"Oh God," Lopez laughs. "Let's discuss it in general terms. What sweeps me off my feet? Sincerity and passion. I respond to people who stand for something."

The 35-year-old star has been quoted as saying, "I sooo want to be pregnant." Marrying Marc Anthony, she became an instant stepmom to his three kids, the youngest two being the product of his union with Dayanara Torres, former Miss Universe who once went steady with Aga Muhlach.

"You learn a lot from being around children," she comments. "Children help you put things in perspective; they are a reality check."

She recently found time to appear as herself on the TV series "Will & Grace." She explains: "I think it's funny. I love making fun of myself."