> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Jennifer Love Hewitt talks about past, present, future - URL: https://www.smdp.com/jennifer-love-hewitt-talks-about-past-present-future/ - Published: 2002-09-28T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:45:42.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press* Jennifer Love Hewitt knew all eyes were on her. Standing center stage at the Universal Amphitheater during last month’s Teen Choice Awards, the 23-year-old Texan sang for the very first time in front of a live audience — while trying her best to avoid noticing stars like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake seated in the front row. “I didn’t know whether to pee or sing when I saw them,” she gushed nervously afterward. “So I just pretended they were not there and I sang to the kids that wouldn’t throw things at me.” Turns out the former “Party of Five” actress was all worked up for nothing. Her performance of “Bare Naked” — the title song from her new album, due Oct. 8 — earned a standing ovation... and props from R&B singer Ashanti: “I thought she was hot. She's showin’ versatility. She could be a big music star.” But all of Hewitt’s anxieties are not as easily calmed. For one thing, she remains deathly afraid of being submerged under water — a fear she was forced to confront while filming “The Tuxedo,” which opened Friday. In the new comedy, Jackie Chan stars as a hapless cabbie-turned-chauffeur who discovers his million dollar tux has magical powers that allow its wearer to do anything from punch and kick to sing and dance. But it can’t help save a rookie government agent (Hewitt) from nearly being drowned by a group of villains. “There were times when we were shooting that particular scene that she would get out of the water and just break down crying out of fear,” recalls director Kevin Donovan. “There was no stunt person and you could see her face as she is being dipped into the water. She finally got up out of the pool, collapsed on the floor and just broke down.” And that was just the beginning. During the three-month shoot, Hewitt also sustained injuries to both knees, pulled a hamstring, and broke both her middle finger, and her ankle. “I also cracked my head open,” she reports. “I was hit in the head with a knight stick.” So much for the two weeks of training she received in basic karate, boxing and martial arts before getting final fight-scene instructions directly from Chan. “Jackie trained me for 15 minutes before each stunt I had to do,” she reveals, stretching out in a penthouse hotel suite. “It was scary the first couple of times because I was doing it in front of Jackie Chan. If I was doing it in front of Carrot Top, I probably wouldn't have cared.” Chan was nevertheless impressed. “Jennifer really surprised me; she's very good,” he boasts. “She trained in dance, so she is very flexible... and she is kind of crazy, like me.” Hewitt, who count’s Chan’s “Rumble In The Bronx” among her all time favorite movies, couldn’t help but notice something completely different about her co-star: “Jackie has a real sexy factor about him,” she gushes like a schoolgirl. “He is just dreamy. All of the women on the set were all like, ‘OK, who is gonna get to marry Jackie Chan at the end of this movie?’” In between sips of Classic Coke and handfuls of peanut M&Ms, Hewitt reveals she has had many movie star crushes over the years. “I’ve had an obsession with Davey Jones since I was 8 and I saw him take Marsha Brady to the prom,” she giggles. “I also loved New Kids On The Block. I used to have their sheets on my bed and I would only sleep on my Joey McIntyre pillow because I thought somehow at night he was kissing me softly while I was sleeping.” These days the 5’ 3” brunette no longer has to dream about dating Hollywood’s rich and famous bachelors. Her list of exes already includes actor Will Friedle (”Boy Meets World”), Joey Lawrence (”Blossom”) and LFO singer Rich Cronin. She was the inspiration for the group’s 1999 hit “Girl On TV.” Since her high profile break up with MTV heartthrob Carson Daly more than two years ago, Hewitt also has been linked in the press to Alec Baldwin — her co-star in “The Devil and Daniel Webster” — Broadway actor Patrick Wilson of “The Full Monty,” and most recently, singer-songwriter John Mayer. “I find it all very entertaining because it gives me such a better social life than I actually have,” she quips. “I would have no time for a career if I was fooling around with as many people as they say I am. In a year’s time I will maybe go on five dates.” Hewitt figures the constant speculation about her love life may be one reason why she is currently single. “They make me out to be this total hoe,” she says with a laugh. “I can’t imagine a guy going, ‘So, you’re not busy tonight with the other 75... Wanna go out with me?’ I think I have to disappear for a while, go to Alaska, let people stop writing about me, then maybe guys will start asking me out again.” Of course, there is at least one person she probably wouldn’t accept a date with — rapper Eminem. “He’s too wordy,” she laughs. “Can you imagine? Like I would ever get into a fight with that guy! There would be a song called “She’s The Worst Girlfriend Ever — I Wanna Hit Her In The Face!” Hewitt does admit she is a huge fan of the Detroit rapper’s music. “He’s so talented it’s sick,” she says. “But I will say nothing else about him because I don't want to be picked on.” They probably wouldn’t get along too well anyway. “I’m kind of boring,” the actress insists. “I just kind of want to eat pizza and hang out with my mom. I am like an 80 year old.” So much so that Hewitt has dedicated herself to a life free of drugs, alcohol... even cursing. (”I let my mother do it for me,” she says.) So what’s up then with her sexy new image and ever-so revealing outfits? “I have never seen smaller costumes on such a tiny, beautiful body,” recalls Sigourney Weaver, her co-star in last year’s comedy “Heartbreakers.” But Hewitt, who jokingly refers to her breasts as “the twins,” insists “I think the sex appeal thing is great. I kind of feel like while I am young and I can fit into those dresses and wear those things and look that way, I should probably take advantage of it.” Her mother Pat, a speech pathologist, seems to agree. They are best friends and share a Los Angeles home with Hewitt’s slightly overweight Chihuahua, Mia. Her parents divorced when she was six months old, and the actress rarely speaks to her father Dan, a medical technician. “I’m fine with that,” she contends. “My brother has been such a huge strong male influence on me.” What does Todd, 31, think of his baby sister’s sexy layout in the current issue of Rolling Stone? “He tries not to look,” she confesses. “He looks once so that I know he is proud of me and then he never looks again. And he defies any man to look at it in front of him.” (Sean Daly is president of Showtime Entertainment and a freelance writer living in Santa Monica.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 28, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092802.pdf?ref=smdp.com)