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ML40 49-64_Layout 1 9/27/13 10:38 PM Page 63 ML EXCLUSIVE T hrough the window I see LeAnn Rimes and husband, Eddie Cibrian, No longer "borrowed," Eddie made an honest woman out of her. arrive. I am waiting in a dressing room trailer, directly across from the Crucified by the press and rapacious cyber bullies, the happily married one they step into, positioned off to the side of the outdoor stage on couple remain perpetual fixtures on gossip sites and in the tabloids. Empire City Casino's racetrack. An unquestionably talented singer- Happy endings trigger jealousy and when you live the dream life people songwriter, LeAnn has sold over 37 million records and has procured an want to tear you down. "Right. I have the dream life," she says softly. "I impressive list of awards including: two Grammys, three ACMs, a CMA, work very hard for it. I have ups and downs like everyone else does…" 12 Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award. In an hour, as She pauses to choose her words. "I can't share my happiness without the sun disappears, LeAnn will entertain the crowd with her easy banter someone saying something negative about it. But I'm just a human between songs, southern charm and powerful voice. being. It's weird as a celebrity to have to walk that fine line of knowing what to share and what not to share," she says in regard to her Twitter She graciously bows her head in gratitude after each song, and account. In her mind, there doesn't seem to be a separation between performs with such great élan that it elicits goose bumps in me. We the woman and the celebrity. "I try not to edit myself because it seems don't wear shoes in the south, quips the 5'5 Mississippi-born chanteuse like a really sad thing to do at the end of the day. Why do I have to edit after slipping off her high heels for comfort's sake. The ensorcelled myself for someone I don't know? Why do I let these people affect me? audience demands an encore, a request she kindly obliges. But what I It's a hard thing not to care about what people think about you but it's find particularly sweet about her performance is that as she sings, she also a part of my job," she states somberly. inconspicuously turns her attention stage left periodically. Her smile turns up a tad more. Her eyes brighten ever so slightly. What goes It's as though bullying has become an epidemic, LeAnn remarks. For unnoticed by the crowd is something I am privy to, as I witnessed their fans, Twitter is a means to communicate directly with their favorite arrival together tonight. With Eddie, close by, watching –LeAnn glows. stars, which is great, until the faceless vultures rip you to shreds -'causing a fair share to retreat, naturally. Psychological abuse should not Minutes later (pre-concert), LeAnn enters the trailer accompanied by a be tolerated. Former Miami Living cover girl Jennifer Love Hewitt left woman (I'm not sure her relation to the songstress as we are not Twitter over the summer because of the incessant "bad vibes" she was introduced) and her tour manager. A couple of questions into the receiving shortly after she broke the joyful news that she was expecting. interview, she asks them for our privacy, for me, and they leave us alone. Outfitted in a long casual strapless dress, the 31-year-old blond, It takes a strong person to deal with a spotlight that can easily burn you blue-eyed crooner is the essence of natural beauty in barely-there and LeAnn has exhibited that she has the fortitude and poise to endure. makeup with her hair wavy and loose. "I don't want the negativity to win, ya know? I guess I've built up a tough skin… but it also depends on what day you catch me on. I mean LeAnn has been touring the United States since the beginning of this sometimes, I want to completely tear people apart but other times I'm year promoting, Spitfire, her 14th studio album. True to country music like, 'Whatever. Not a big deal.'" Thick-skinned, but not impervious, form, Spitfire is beautifully raw and soulful. "Just a Girl Like You," "What hints of a deeply sensitive woman ravaged by criticism show up when Have I Done," "You've Ruined Me," and of course, "Borrowed" --are she speaks on certain subjects and in her song, "Just A Girl Like You": simply a few of her songs that have I've gravitated to for their addictive "Do what I can to survive / Back and forth from a woman to a child / I'm melody and truthful message. Having penned nine out of the thirteen coming up for air / We're not all that far apart / Both fragile works of art songs, Spitfire plays out like a diary of her innermost thoughts about / See the colors that we share…" her notorious 2009 affair turned-marriage (April 2011) and the series of feelings that she experienced through it all. "It's the most transparent Despite the mean-spirited onslaught she has faced, LeAnn remains a I've been on a record. It took twenty years to get there," she laughs, supernova of positivism: sharing affirmative messages, cheerful photos "but it feels pretty amazing to be at this place. I never knew I could do from her daily life and responding back to her adoring 488K+ Twitter that with music, which is kinda weird to say, after doing it for so long." followers. And when you have a solid partner like Eddie, who is a "good guy," life's trials and tribulations are easier to shoulder. "We've gone Spitfire may not be her most commercially successful album, she points through a lot together," LeAnn explains, "from the way we actually met out, but it's the one that listeners seem to relate to most and her and got together and everything we've gone through publicly. Trying to favorite record to date. "Borrowed" opened up the flood gate to write blend a family..." [LeAnn has two stepsons, Jake and Mason, from this record, she tells me, and from there nothing was off limits: "I know Eddie's first marriage.] What keeps their relationship in tune is the you're not mine only borrowed / 'Cause you already belong to her / mutual realization that they found something worth fighting for and Least you said so… / I don't want to give you back… / You're the best the understanding that there will be ups and downs, and that they have I'll ever have / And I don't want to give you back / but you're borrowed, to make it a point to remember why they got together in the first only borrowed…" place. "And, ya know, I adore him." A smitten smile spreads across her MIAMI LIVING 63