It's noon on a balmy fall day, and Jennifer Lopez has started to make her way from her rented apartment in Greenwich Village to midtown Manhattan's Sony Music Studios, but she's calling ahead to ask for a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese on the side, and a latte-a "big latte." Sixty blocks away, her publicist runs across the street and secures the drink, but, alas, there are no bagels left at the cafe. She returns to the studio and calls the kitchen, requesting that one be sent up. Five minutes pass. "I'm waiting for the sesame bagel for Jennifer," the publicist wails into the phone. We dawdle on a black leather couch in the dimly lit, oak-paneled lounge, the air spiced by dozens of flickering aromatic candles. She picks up the receiver again. "The bagel?" the publicist asks frantically. "Is the bagel coming?"
At this exact moment Lopez sweeps into the room, her pink-tinted sunglasses still clapped on, moving swiftly in denim Dolce & Gabbana spikes that perfectly match a teeny-tiny denim skirt with a Sean John logo in glitter on the hem. Miraculously enough, it's also at this moment that the bagel arrives, courtesy of a slow-moving guy whose jaw drops when he sees who it's for. Placing her oversize Vuiton purse on the floor, Lopez lowers herself noiselessly onto the couch and unwraps the tinfoil. She gingerly lifts the top half of the bagel. "Um, are there any preserves?" she asks softly. "Jam, not jelly?"
With the right people dispatched to fulfill this request, Lopez removes her sunglasses and pours her latte into a glass mug. Today's yet another day in the windowless recording studio, where she's been cutting her second album. "The goal is to get out of the city before it gets cold," she says, in an accent that's less Brahmin than Bronx, where she was born. "Everybody's like, `Oh, she wants to finish the record so she can get out of here."' She laughs. "I'm like, `No, I want to get out of here before it gets too cold,' you know what I mean?"
With a striking, chiseled face, skin the color of a peanut butter jelly bean, and full-bodied Earth Mother curves-to say nothing of the bagel behavior-it's easy enough to see how Lopez, 30, gets her reputation as a diva: She just seems like the kind of person who inspires others to lay their coats over puddles. Her brown eyes are the type that inspired Van Morrison, and when she trains them on you, it's impossible not to do whatever she asks. And she does know how to ask for what she wants. Lopez is now the most highly paid Latina movie star in history (she received $9 million for this month's romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, in which she plays an uptight bridal consultant). Rumors have circulated that she requires 250-thread-count sheets in her hotel rooms, insists on being driven only in a black Mercedes with a male chauffeur, and even made demands of the cops when she and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Sean "Puffy" Combs, were arrested last year in a highly publicized incident involving a shoot-out at a Manhattan nightclub. (All charges against Lopez have been dropped.) The story goes that she asked the cops to run out to a 24-hour pharmacy to get her some cuticle cream.
"Of course, the press made that up," Lopez says in exasperation, though she is exceptionally groomed right now: Her French manicure is perfect, her skin glowing, her handbag full of dozens of brushes and lip glosses. "Then somebody said I have a manicurist on the payroll. I don't know where they get this stuff! When I want a manicure I call somebody, and they come and do a manicure. I have a girl, Ellen, who I really like; she comes over or whatever. It's not like she's there all the time, just waiting, for when I chip a nail or something."
A group of producers with heavy gold chains around their necks bustles around getting ready to play Lopez the two tracks they recorded yesterday as she fiddles with her long hair, which is hanging loose. "Hey," she asks her personal assistant, a woman whom she's known since second grade, "you got my clippy-clip?" Commanding the attention of everyone in the room without even trying, Lopez raises her arms overhead and twists her hair into a loose braid under the barrette before starting to dance energetically to the sound of herself booming out of hidden Surround Sound speakers: She does a moonwalk, vogues expertly, pretends to dance with a hat in her hand. After all, dancing is how Lopez got her start a decade ago, as a Fly Girl on Fox's In Living Color. "I was a finalist, and they flew me out to L.A. and everything, for a last audition," Lopez says. "Then they didn't pick me! But they called a few months later to say one of the girls didn't work out, so I got the job after all."
After listening intently to the two tracks, Lopez decides she wants to play a CD she's brought from home. She looks for the personal assistant, who seems to have left the room momentarily, and then grabs the assistant's knapsack herself, rifling through it eagerly. Her eyes widen. "Whoa!" she yells, pulling out a piece of cake in a little white bag. "Man, she is so busted!" All the producers laugh uproariously-clearly, the assistant's diet is well known-as Lopez takes a red marker and writes "BUSTED!" in big letters across the bag. Just then, the assistant walks back into the room. She looks at the cake and sniffles. "C'mon, you guys," she says. Lopez goes over and gives her a big hug. "We were just kidding," Lopez says sweetly, and who wouldn't believe her?
THE BEAT GOES ON
"In my family, we grew up listening to a lot of pop music, as well as a lot of Spanish music, R&B, and hip-hop. Dancing was my first love-I took ballet, flamenco, jazz, everything; I was always dancing after school, on the weekends. I loved Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Diana Ross, `cause they did movies that I was just blown away by- they were funny, they were talented, they sang, they were dramatic. They were seamless with what they did. I just looked at them and I was just like, `Wow, that's what I want to do.' I also thought to myself, I am a Latin actress-I'm Latin, I'm an actress-if I don't want to be pigeonholed or stereotyped into just doing one type of thing, I'm going to have to show that I can do a lot of things. I've always wanted to play the guitar, and I keep saying that before I go on tour, I'm going to learn."
THING...THINGY
"The last year has been so exciting for me, getting to do different kinds of roles, challenging myself a little bit more. The Wedding Planner was cool, because I'd never done a comedy before. There's this one scene that's so funny, where Matthew [McConaughey] and I were at some sort of estate looking at naked statues and one of the things- you know, things [penises]-on one of the statues falls off. It's funny, `cause as soon as they do the movie they start thinking about it being on TV. So that part's not for prime time, for sure, and unless they want to take out the scene, the director says they're going to have to make it a thumb."
PEACE OUT
"I don't really read the papers, and my TV barely ever gets turned on unless I'm watching a tape for work, although I do like Sex and the City. If I can remember which day it's on, I'll watch that. Otherwise, I like to read books that have something to do with spirituality: understanding the mind, understanding the body, understanding how it all works together. I have lots of spiritual books around- I don't even know the titles. I'll just go to the bookstore and if something catches my attention, if a book has an idea or principle that I think is clever or helpful, then I'll buy it. I love this one book by Louise L. Hay called You Can Heal Your Life, and a book called Conversations With God, all about spirituality and the way God communicates with us. At the end of the day, it's all about being just, like, a good person- being centered, focused, and at peace. Work hard and don't hurt nobody."
HOMEWARD BOUND
"I finally bought a house in L.A., which is big for me. It took me a while to get into it, because for the past ten years I've just been on the road, living in hotels, so it was really hard for me to just, like, commit to things. It's so much to be a home owner. It really took me time to find the right person to do the right things, and then to commit to it fully. I bought the place last November, and it's winter again and we're not even halfway done with it. It's kind of a contemporary house, and it's going to be all beige and browns-dark brown wood, light colors, like beige's and whites and creams. Decorators were showing me things that looked like they belonged in a hotel, and I was like, `I want nothing in my house that looks like a hotel or like The Brady Bunch.' Everybody loves staying in hotels at first. But when you actually have to go home to a hotel, and that becomes your place, you long for something that's yours, some stability. To go home, see your things."
WALKIN' IN SUNSHINE
"Some people get creative energy from going our, but I don't need that vibey energy, night energy. I love being our during the day. I'm a middle-of-the-day person: From noon to midnight, that's my time. I like getting up a little late and walking around outside on a beautiful day, even though it's harder now. But I still do it, I still force the issue. It's almost easier when I'm by myself. When I'm with other people-friends or my sisters, my family, whatever, it bothers them more when I get recognized. `Cause they can't get their flow going. Although I've been warned to have security all the time, it's just not my style. I only have it for official things, when people know you're going to be somewhere. It's just stupid of me in a way, you know, `cause it's a reality-but I just can't get with having somebody over my shoulder all the time."
REST ASSURED
"I like to try to get a lot of sleep. At least eight hours, but I can survive on six, and sometimes it's more like four or five. I know that I'm at my best, I look my best, I feel my best when I've gotten more sleep. Rest is really one of the most important things. Also, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I keep up my beauty rituals and try to drink a lot of water, although I don't drink enough. I'll go hours without eating or drinking anything. It's really bad, because I'm dehydrating my body and I don't even realize it."
WELL GROOMED FROM THE WOMB
"My mother always cared a lot about the way she looked. I'm the same way: I like being well groomed. I like my hair neat, being clean, and smelling nice. Both my mother and my grandmother were very into appearance, being presentable in public, and being clean. They were, like, freaks about it-really, really into it, in a good way. But we didn't have money. So fashion was important, but not that important."
COSMETICS PLUS
"I only like to wear a little bronzer and lip gloss. My favorite gloss is this pink-tinted one I have-I don't even know what kind it is. It's an empty pink bottle right now. I wear it every day, and the name's just totally faded our. I like buying makeup- Sephora's an overload, but it's fun to go in there and knock out a couple of hours. I wish I had time to go to spas all the time, too, but I just don't. I should get facials at least every three weeks, and I like getting manicures."
DARK VICTORY
"I like to have a little color. I use self-tanner sometimes, `cause I don't really like to use foundation every day. The thing that people don't know is that self-tanner is just not that hard to use. Everyone's so afraid of it, so no one puts enough on, and they wind up, like, blotching up. You've really got to rub it in and make it even: Don't be afraid, just put it on. Wash your face, scrub it, even use a little thing with little granules in it to make sure you get rid of whatever dry skin you have-'cause it will adhere to drier skin, it will make blotches and stuff like that. But if you just have a smooth, clean face and put it on, it'll work. And use a little moisturizer with it. They give you all this fear like anything's going to streak it, but moisturizer will make it smooth our more and dilute it more. Plus you can always go back and add more."
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
"I don't like to be too `I only use this' or `I only use that,' because the truth is I switch my products. After a while that great product that you were using, the one that really worked well for a while, just stops having an effect. Every night before I go to bed, I wash my face, put on eye cream, use essential oils on my face sometimes, and put on moisturizer, but I've got to switch the brand of moisturizer all the time so stuff doesn't build up. Moisturizer is good for my skin, but for people with oily skin it's a whole different game- me and my sisters all have normal to dry skin, so it's all about the moisturizer. When I was young, I used soap on my face, but it's so drying. It takes out every little bit of oil you have. It's great for when you have a pimple breaking out: Just take a bunch of soap on your finger, and pat it there and leave the soap on overnight. It'll dry our the pimple really quick. I used to use Ivory for that all the time. Toothpaste is good because `it's drying, too. The thing gets hard like a rock. Your hair gets tired of things, too, so I'll use a different conditioner in the shower every night. I sleep with conditioner in a lot of times, and just wash it out in the morning."
MEDITATE ON THIS
"I exercise just like regular people-running, cardio, gym stuff, weights. I get fanatic when I know I have something coming up to get in shape for, like a movie or a video or a photo shoot. Then I'll work our for a long time, six months or whatever, and then all of a sudden I'll just stop for four months and not do anything. I also meditate a lot, `cause I had to learn how to calm myself when things first started getting crazy professionally for me. I was going through the point in my career when people start recognizing you-losing your anonymity, privacy out the window. It's a weird friggin' thing. `Cause you want it, but then when it happens it's, like, a weird feeling. Because the one thing that we're born with and go to the grave with is taken from you. So I started asking different people, celebrities who had been in the business a long time, `What do you do? Is this normal, this feeling that I have? Is this going to be OK? Am I going crazy?' And they all said that they meditated-that's how they quieted down everything. It's all about learning how to deal with it, you know. Realizing you're still who you are, and it's all good."
