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Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/62822
ML EXCLUSIVE! brandishing badly angled paparazzi snapped photographs of you. Jennifer recently commented to the media that she feels that she is in the best shape when she is asked back by Maxim. I inquire whether the gossip magazines have put pressure on her to be in tip top shape. "To say I didn't feel pressure would be a lie. Most of my pressure is self-inflicted pressure. The body changes and your metabolism changes, and carbs lay differently than they use to… It's more like a challenge I hand myself every year, to sort of be in better condition and take better care of myself, so that I can have kids one day and live a long healthy, happy life. You add on top of it Hollywood and pictures that they take, and things that they want to say —it gets to me sometimes," she expresses candidly. "I try to keep a healthy mind about it." To prepare for the Maxim photo shoot, Jennifer confesses that she ate a lot more salads, drank lots of water, worked out hard, and cut out everything else for at least two weeks prior. She tells me that she lined up all four Maxim covers the other day and was fascinated to see how her body and face has changed over time. "I kind of want to frame them all, so that one day when I'm 80, I can be like, 'Alright, we had it once, that's good!'" she laughs. She certainly has it —the "it" that has bewitched the likes of Carson Daly, John Mayer, and Jamie Kennedy in the past. These days the 33-year-old starlet is happily single. "It's been good to be single," she reflects thoughtfully. "I think I'm at an interesting age to do that, 'cause I'm sort of at an age where most women are settling down and getting married and having kids… And you definitely feel the pressure, sort of, from the universe to start thinking about those things. It's really interesting to find yourself not doing that." A part of a "great little Sex in the City kind of group of girls," Jennifer is relishing the joys of single life rather than harping on where Mr. Right is. What must the next guy have to elicit her attention? I ask. "A miracle," she emphatically answers. We burst into a fit of unbridled laughter. Right!? I exclaim. "A mir-a-cle," she sounds out exaggeratingly. "He has got to be named Miracle." Her mouth turns up into a huge smile. I warn her that once the male population reads this tidbit that many will be changing their name, and we laugh about the possible scenarios that might arise. Playfulness aside, she replies, "Ya know what? I really don't know. At this point," she pauses contemplatively, "—giving up or surrendering is a bad thing to say because that sounds so hopeless —but I don't really know." Jennifer explains that her hectic schedule ties up most of her time but besides that, she's presently dating herself —figuring out who she is, what she wants, doesn't want, what she's willing to put up with and not willing to put up with. "When I finished the book [The Day I Shot Cupid (2010)] and it came out and I was talking to people about it… I realized that maybe I didn't spend enough time in the book on how in yourself you have to be before you can find that person. I think that's where I am now." Her focus has been redirected away from who that next guy will be and what he'll bring to what she will be able to offer when he comes along. "I feel that's a better place, a healthier place to sort of be in," she muses. From my candid encounter with Jennifer, she doesn't seem to be lacking in any area. I find her to be as engaging and sweet as she is beautiful. The Internet went wild when she mentioned that her breasts are her favorite assets, which prompted me to find out what she considered her best quality. "I think I'm kind of funny," she says with a laugh, "just because I'm brutally honest most of the time, which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes is not. But I tend to make my friends laugh a lot and that I really like." To illustrate her noteworthy wit, when I ask what fans might be surprised to find out about her, Jennifer proudly replies with a big smile, "I know a lot of rap songs. I'm obsessed with hip-hop music." I listen, wide-eyed, as she explains that she and co-star Rebecca Field rap "like nobody's business" while having their hair and makeup done on set. Their range includes songs by Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Salt-N-Pepa… "Rebecca is teaching me Biggie Smalls and Nicki Minaj. Right now, I have the lyrics printed out to "Super Bass" and when I'm at home, I sit in my Brookstone foot massager and study the Nicki Minaj lyrics so that I can hopefully know all of the words." A vision of Jennifer, after a long day at work, relaxing in a cozy chair intently reading hip-hop lyrics over and over while singing them aloud (she didn't say she raps while she's memorizing the lines, but this is what I envision) comes to mind. Not what you'd expect from her at all. It throws you off a bit, but makes you adore her a little more. The surprising idiosyncratic CHEF JENNIFER "I make really good really good Dover sole and risotto." spaghetti, my mom's recipe, and I make anecdotes roll off her tongue fluidly. "I have an uncontrollable thing," she confesses in a way that tells me that what she's about to disclose next is going to be pretty good. "If any kind of music is on, at any given time, this (she waves an opened palm in the space just above her butt) has to move. The badonkadonk is constantly moving," she says emphatically. I am awed by her word selection. I can't remember the last time, if ever, I heard someone refer to their butt as a badonkadonk —aside from in rap lyrics. Coming from Jennifer, it's quite endearing. She passionately expresses her affinity for salsa dancing, and how being in a public place does not hinder her need to shake it, even if she is, say — grocery shopping. If the right song is playing in the background, fellow shoppers are likely to find Jennifer employing her shopping cart as a salsa partner. "People are like, 'What is going on over there?!'" she says animatedly. "I'm like, 'I am sorry. This is just— it's always been this way. It's a situation. I don't know how to help it. Just move along. Look away!'" Her comedic deliverance is on point and the vision has me in hysterics. "Could be why I'm single. I'm just sayin'," she good- naturedly jokes. "Could be why the relationship did not work so well, 'cause I'm weird and I don't really need anybody to entertain me. I kind of do it myself." It flows from her so naturally —to amuse and enthrall. You never know what tale or tidbit she'll toss out next, which makes you hang on her every word. Obviously, Jennifer fulfilled her calling in life, but what path would she have taken had she not found a home in the entertainment industry? Jennifer supposes that her theatrical pursuits might have been sated by practicing law. "Being a lawyer, if you think about it, I think it sort of goes back to acting a little bit, getting up in front of the jury, pleading your case. I think that would be really, really cool. Or a chef!" she adds. She entertains the dream and wistfully replies, "Yeah, I would be a chef or lawyer. Maybe I can be a cooking lawyer. I can sauté and plead my case." Her eyes light up and she lets out a laugh. MIAMI LIVING 61