Posted September 7, 200618 yr http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/KalenD/glamour_uk_oct_1157534195.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/KalenD/glamour_uk_oct_1157536027.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/KalenD/glamour_uk_oct_1157536764.jpg A Wife Less Ordinary Stronger, blonder and more loved-up than ever, the super-sexy Christina Aguilera has entered a new phase of her life – both professionally and personally. Lori Gottlieb gets her to dish the dirt on why her marriage is anything but mundane. All the posh clientele at a Beverly Hills hotel turn to stare when Christina Aguilera walks in. Perhaps they recognize the famous 25-year-old singer, who has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. But it’s more likely they’re wondering who this sophisticated beauty is. Gone are the barely there clothes, multiple piercings and ratty dark hair of the Dirrty days. The striking 5ft 2in bombshell with the platinum blonde hair, full red lips, eyes like headlights and ample cleavage could be anyone from a younger, more delicate Madonna to the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe. This is the latest version of Christina Aguilera, who has mastered the art of reinvention. The former pre-teen Mouseketeer had successfully pulled off personas ranging from bubblegum pop star with her chart-topping single Genie In A Bottle, to sexual provocateur in S&M gear, and now, retro-Hollywood glamour girl. The new look coincides with her double album, Back To Basics, which pays tribute to her favourite childhood music – vintage soul, blues and jazz. It’s a bold career move, one that echoes a shift in her personal life as well. “My look is definitely changing,†she explains. “It reflects the fact that I’m in such a happy place right now. I wanted to go back to light hair because I’m not in that dark place I was in with [the last album] Stripped. I’m in a feel-good place.†A big part of the happiness she sings about on her album’s lead single, Ain’t No Other Man, goes by the name of Jordan Bratman, the 29-year-old music executive she married last November after a three-year courtship. “It completely took me by surprise,†Christina says, “because I wasn’t looked for a relationship. I didn’t say, ‘Gee, I need to be happy, let me find a companion.’ I’ve always been super-focused on my career. But when is happens, in happens, right?†It didn’t, in fact, happen immediately. The paid started out as friends when Jordy, as Christina affectionately calls him, moved to LA and befriended the pop star, whom he’d briefly met in Atlanta, where she had gone for work. “We were completely friends,†Christina says. “Jordy and I would hang out and he just had this positive energy. He would be my pick-me-up on down days. From the moment I met him, I gravitated towards his realness and sincerity.†Over time, though, she says, “I completely fell head over heels in love. He’s my best friend and I knew I didn’t want to spend my life without him.†Their wedding, a three-night extravaganza in scenic Napa Valley, California, included a Japanese-themed night, with performing geishas and their favourite sushi chef flown in from LA. The maid of honour was Christina’s sister, Rachel, and the bridesmaids were her make-up artist, Stephen Sollitto, sister-in-law Alex, good friend Alison (who is Christina’s manager’s daughter), her high-school buddy Marcy, and Heather, a singer-songwriter friend. The bridesmaids wore “light pink – a sweet colourâ€, and Christina walked down the aisle – alone – in a traditional, white Christian Lacroix gown. “My husband was surprised by the dress,†she laughs. “He thought I’d choose some crazy colour. We want to renew our vows every five years, so next time I’m going to do it a little more rock’n’roll.†Although the wedding did have its rock’n’roll moments. “Because I’m a music person,†Christina recalls, “the thought of hiring a corny wedding band terrified me. So I asked a band that tours with me to play at my wedding. My producer, Linda Perry, got up and sang Beautiful and I ran up on stage to give her a hug, and my band immediately went into Lady Marmalade and people started cheering me on. I was, like, ‘OK…’.†But then came the sentimental bit. “Part of my tour set is doing Etta James’s At Last, and, I thought, now is the most perfect time; now I have a substantial reason to sing it. So I dedicated it to Jordy. I was so not into the idea of singing at my own wedding. But when the energy’s right, sometimes that’s the best audience.†While Christina’s wedding was storybook, her childhood was anything but. When talking about her abusive father, her smooth, velvety voice goes quiet and her long eyelashes shift toward the floor. Oh Mother, one of the many autobiographical songs on her new album, picks up where I’m OK, from her last album, left off. More than revealing the physical abuse her family endured at the hands of her father, “Oh Mother takes it one step further, where I’m thanking my mother for getting us out of the abuse.†It’s a song that Christina hopes will open up the dialogue about domestic violence. “There’s so much emotional damage that happens,†she says. “A lot of people are like, ‘Well why don’t you just leave the guy?’ but it’s more complicated than that when the woman has to support the kids on her own.†Although Christina’s father has tried to contact her, the singer says she has no interest in replying. “’Bruises fade but the pain still remains’,†she explains, paraphrasing lyrics from I’m OK. “That’s not to say I don’t need a father figure. I never had one, and around the time of my wedding, I was thinking about who would walk me down the aisle.†But the last lines of The Right Man references Christina’s comfort in knowing that because she’s chosen the right man to marry, at least when her “little girl†walks down the aisle, she’ll have a loving father by her side. Wait…her “little girlâ€? Is there a baby on the way? Not yet, insists Christina, but she does look forward to motherhood “when the time is rightâ€. “I have the prediction that I’m going to have a boy first,†she says with a smile. “So I was like, ‘I hope people don’t think I’m trying to jinx myself by writing about the little girl!’ I’d be overjoyed with either. I hope people get that!†She also hopes people understand that just because she’s thinking about motherhood doesn’t mean her sexuality will take a back seat. “I consider myself a woman of many different facets and I like to express all of those. I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’m a sexual being,†she says. “You know, I’ve done things before that have been shocking or appalling to people and sometimes I look at them and think, ‘My god, it’s just skin!’ Let’s take when I first came out on the scene with the blonde hair and navel-baring shirts I used to wear when I was a teenager – that made some people squeamish about sexuality, but maybe they were just uncomfortable within themselves. Otherwise, why would they care so much, you know? It’s one thing for a man to have his own ideals of what a woman should be and us trying to live up to those expectations. But when women put it up against women and try to be so competitive and comparing, it just makes me really sad.†Christina has been compared endlessly to other Mouseketeer-turned-music superstar, Britney Spears. Christina, however, has been considered the prodigious talent, with an emotional power and technical range likened to iconic voices from the past. Not surprisingly, there have been rumours of everything from cat rights to mutual freeze-outs, but Christina dismisses them all with a roll of her eyes. “It’s beautiful times for both of us,†she says. “For my wedding, Britney sent me a crystal vase and I got her a baby basket – a huge thing of beautiful toys and robes. I don’t know why people expect us to have the same friendship we did when we were 12. How many people have that? Now we’ve good friends from afar. And I think, deep down, we always know we’re there for each other. It’s all good.†Because Christina’s music is often so personal, she’s used to erroneous speculation about her relationships. Her track Here To Stay, for instance, might be about any number of well-known people in her life, “My mom and I went through this the other day,†Christina says about the experience of listening to the new album together. “She was, like, ‘Is this about so-and-so?’ and I was, like, ‘No, Mom, it’s actually about this person…’†Twirling her perfectly curled hair, Christina can go from silly girlfriend chat to powerful woman mode in seconds. While she’s on her world tour, she says, “Jordy will be at home with out three babies – our dogs. We have two little papillons and a big mama bull mastiff, who acts like a big baby. She’ll greet you at the door – this intimidating dog that weighs more than me – with an itty-bitty toy. She’s so cute! Anyway, I sidetrack…†Then she pauses before adding, “I have so many more things that I have yet to accomplish. I want to do a film. But I don’t just want to cross over from entertainer to actor and not act. I want to take on a meaty, juicy role and make sure I’m not just playing myself.†Meanwhile, as soon as she gets some downtime, the tiny superstar with the powerful voice says she wants to take cooking lessons. “I want to be able to have the same kind of relationship with my children that my mom has with me, and one of the things that I love coming home to is her cooking. I want to be able to do that for my kids. My mom makes the best Thanksgiving dinner, so I’m learning that.†She trails off, distracted by the sight of her husband, who has just walked into the bar. Flashing a coy smile, she adds, “I guess that’s a little domestic, huh?†Standing up to greet her ‘hubby’, Christina looks anything but domestic in her shapely jeans, camisole, sheer sweater and large hoop earrings. She admires style icons from the past – “the Marlene Dietrichs, the Marilyns, the Veronica Lakes, the Jean Harlows†– but, she says, “I really don’t try to take a page off anyone. I just like people that kind of do their own thing and keep it part of their individual expression.†Hanging from a long gold chain around her neck is a square locket, but there are no pictures inside. “I haven’t had time to put anything in there,†she explains, adding that she looks forward to going back into creative mode and being able to spend Sundays in bed with her husband. “The next album that I do for myself, a few years down the line, will be something completely different, a totally different look,†she says. “But it might coincide with having my first child, which I’m excited to get working on with my husband when the time is right.†She looks off into the distance, as if imagining this future in her mind. “That,†she says, “will be an exciting project.†BACK TO BASICS Glamour asked Ms Aguilera: “When was the last time you…†Snogged someone? “My hubby, this morning, before leaving for work.†Had you roots done? “About three weeks ago.†Ate fast food? “Today, at the photo shoot. I had a cheeseburger.†Nearly had a heart attack? “At my wedding. I said, ‘Let’s put the veil on’ and it wasn’t there. It was an oversight of my stylist, who I will never work with again. Thank god I had my mom’s lace wedding piece, so we made a makeshift veil.†Bought new shows? “I don’t really have time to shop, so I bought a pair of shoes that I wore on a photo shoot the other day. They’re Christian Louboutins. I have about 50,000 pairs. It’s sick!†Worked out? “Being on the road, you do what you can. Over the past year, I hired an amazing new trainer, Tiziana Sorje, and I can now do boy push-ups!†Shouted at somebody? “I’m not really a shouter. I’m more of a talker when there’s a problem. Laughed so hard you cried? “Yesterday, with my hubby.†Had a really good dance? “On Saturday, when we threw a birthday party for Edgar, Jordy’s friend†Blushed? “I’m wearing blush now – does that count?†Bought a souvenir? “I bought some artwork by Banksy recently. He’s controversial but gets people talking.†Went out without make-up on? “I always like to put a little face on. Even when I’m going to the studio, I get into character with the red lipstick.†Called Jordan by a pet name? “I can’t say. Yes, we have several, but it’s just too nauseating to talk about!â€
September 7, 200618 yr Ooh good interview! Who posted it? *looks up* Oh Kalen! The interview king, big surprise :P This is the reason she was Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year last year - look how amazing she is :D
September 7, 200618 yr Author I didn't know she was Glamour's woman of the year :wub: I agree too, ****ing amazing pics :D!
September 8, 200618 yr beautiful pics! "Nearly had a heart attack? “At my wedding. I said, ‘Let’s put the veil on’ and it wasn’t there. It was an oversight of my stylist, who I will never work with again. Thank god I had my mom’s lace wedding piece, so we made a makeshift veil.†Lmao!!!!!
September 8, 200618 yr Author I laughed at the heart attack comment too Shaun! :rofl: I wouldn't like to know his pet names for her though :rofl:! Maybe she calls him a Naughty Nasty Boy and Candyman :kink: I think she looks fab :wub:
September 10, 200618 yr I don't think Christina would be cheesy enough to call him by her song names! :lol:
September 16, 200618 yr Author Yep it's fab! I will go get this in the shop, I love how the woman who sells it to me looks at me weird when I buy Glamour cause I bought it when Mariah was on it too :lol:
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