Exclusively for Enigma, Kelly Andrews talks to superstar songstress Christina Aguilera about family life, how pregnancy left her with gorgeous breasts and what it’s like living in a house once owned by the Osbournes.
Christina Aguilera has come a long way since she first entered the pop charts nine years ago as a fresh faced 19-year-old. The settled wife and mother we see before us today is a far cry from the teen queen whose self-titled first album took the world by storm in 1999. And her current image provides an even starker contrast to the raunchy controversy-provoking temptress of the video for her 2002 hit Dirrty.
Christina’s 2008 incarnation is a picture of domesticity. After marrying music producer Jordan Bratman in 2005, the pair moved last year into the $6 million Beverly Hills mansion once owned by the Osbournes. The couple then transformed the home from the gaudy gothic palace seen on their MTV show, into the perfect home for a young family.
Now firmly settled in with their baby son Max, born last January, Christina admits to being happier than she has ever been. Such domestic bliss is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this star’s success story. Her own upbringing was anything but content. The oldest of five children, Christina has spoken extensively about the violence she witnessed and suffered at the hands of her Ecuadorian father Fausto. They are experiences she admits heavily influenced her second album Stripped, released in 2002.
As well as making her determined to provide her baby with the settled environment she never had, it is clear Christina’s tough upbringing helped turn her into a battle-hardened fighter. She has always displayed a level of steeliness rarely witnessed in her peers in the pop industry – she even sued her own management in 2000 when she was unhappy with the fluffy pop image they were trying to create for her.
As such, anyone who thinks parenthood has dulled Christina’s ambition can think again. Ever-determined to prove she is up to a challenge, the inspirational 27-year-old merely believes she has been given the chance to prove that motherhood and being a globally respected superstar do not have to be mutually exclusive.
She is already at work on the follow-up to her third album Back to Basics in the recording studio of the family home, and has vowed to take Max with her on future tours. If she has her way, the 37 million records and five Grammy Awards she has already notched up will only be the start.
One highlight of Christina’s recent career saw her invited on stage to join legendary British rockers The Rolling Stones at New York’s Beacon Theatre in 2006, a performance captured on film by Martin Scorsese for his new movie Shine a Light.
The diva who was known in her childhood as the “little girl with the big voice” easily held her own dueting Live with Me with the band’s lead singer Mick Jagger; who recently declared her “a great singer and professional” who “really delivered”.
We sat down with Christina to find out what really makes her tick…
Your son Max is almost four months old now. How have you taken to motherhood?
It’s just amazing, and I feel so completely lucky. I actually think this is the first time in my life I’ve really felt that. I feel like pinching myself everyday. I’m walking around my house with my gorgeous husband Jordan and my baby and I’m so happy, I just have this constant smile on my face.
You look great. Was it hard getting your figure back after having the baby?
I haven’t quite got back to my pre-baby weight but I actually love my body right now. I’m much curvier and my cleavage is pretty good. My husband especially loves it.
Have you been doing anything special to get back in shape?
I wasn’t allowed to do any exercise for the first six weeks because I gave birth by Caesarean so I’ve just got back into the gym now and I’m doing some boxing and weights and generally trying to tone up more. I want to be totally back in shape when I start putting out my next record.
How do you feel about
spending time away from Max working on your upcoming album? I have a recording studio in my home so it fits in perfectly. I don’t need to leave my baby, I don’t even need to leave the house!
How do you feel looking back at raunchy videos such as Dirrty now that you’re a mum?
I will always look back at all my videos with pride. I think they are a great body of work. They all served a purpose at the time in showing honestly the many sides of being a woman. For Dirrty in particular, I am proud I was brave enough to have made such a bold choice and to have faced the good or bad that was attached with it
How has Jordan taken to fatherhood?
Jordan is a wonderful dad. I feel so blessed having him as a partner. He changes the diapers, and when I have to use the breast pump he
gets the bottles ready. He is a really hands-on father.
What about when you’re on tour. Will Max go with you?
Of course, Max will be my little roadie! He can be backstage, it will be great. We’re going to be a travelling family. Max was growing inside me during the last tour and he’ll be on our tour bus for the next one.
Your new home is the Osbournes family’s old mansion in Beverly Hills which you bought last year. Sharon and Ozzy are known for their outrageous décor. Have you had to make many changes? I’ve done a lot to it. It was pretty stressful remodelling the whole place, but I wanted a house exactly as I wanted it. I had so many plans. For the past year I’ve been ripping pages out of magazines to get ideas for my perfect home .
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I just wanted something elegant, relaxing and beautiful. I have lots of different themes in the house. We have a Moroccan room because I love all the gorgeous jewelled colours, but most of the house is very old style vintage Hollywood with lots of chinois fabrics and crystal. We also have a couple of rooms that are very rock ‘n’ roll and sexy and then there’s Max’s nursery which is just calm, lovely and very cosy.
You’re famous for making bold fashion statements. Do you have a special part of the house devoted to all your clothes?
I had Jack Osbourne’s old bedroom turned into a walk-in wardrobe. I have this closet in there, and when I look in it I see everything just as I imagined it, exactly as I wanted it. The most incredible thing is my jewellery drawer
Then I open up these drawers and pieces of jewellery from every stage of my life are sitting in these little velvet compartments. I love looking at beautiful diamonds sparkling against the black velvet; after all nothing sets off a diamond more than black.
At Enigma we recently interviewed British jewellery designer Stephen Webster for our special ‘Men We Love’ edition, and you’ve just become the face of his new collection. How did that come about?
I know Stephen really well and I was so delighted to do the photo shoot for him because I love his jewellery. The weird thing is that when I look at all my jewels together, most of them are made by Stephen.
I have a complete Stephen Webster collection! He had me posing as heroines from different Alfred Hitchcock movies, so what I did before the shoot was watch a couple of Hitchcock movies just to see exactly the sort of thing he wanted.
I have a complete Stephen Webster collection! He had me posing as heroines from different Alfred Hitchcock movies, so what I did before the shoot was watch a couple of Hitchcock movies just to see exactly the sort of thing he wanted.
You previously revealed that you and Jordan enjoy having “naked Sundays”. Do you still do that now that you are parents?
I believe it’s important for us to still carry on with some of the things we did before Max was born. It’s vital for Jordan and I to maintain time for ourselves. It’s all about getting the right balance.
Does being such a high profile star make it tough to have a normal home life?
No. I think we’re fairly regular. I mean I don’t go round changing diapers in a ball gown covered in jewellery.
Are you eager to have more children in the near future? You can never say anything for certain so I don’t want to say anything definite, but I think we’ll definitely keep trying!
It sounds like family life suits you?
I never thought my life would ever be this good. I never even dreamed it. Every day I just wake up happy.
