It’s no surprise that a woman like Jennifer Lopez needs to have her ass kissed as much as possible. So any celebrity friendly magazine that wants to have a good relationship with her will probably bow to her wishes. That’s exactly what happened with Elle. The women’s mag was going to publish a story written by reporter Kevin Sessums – in which he described Lopez accurately and honestly – which at the time meant flu-ish and frazzled.

Lopez engaged in some major overshares and clearly immediately regretted the entire thing. Instead of doing the decent thing and just keeping her mouth shut, Lopez’s people had Sessums’ article squashed and it was instead replaced with a more celeb-friendly (i.e. ass kissy) version that appealed to Lopez’s ego.

ELLE magazine killed a touchy profile on Jennifer Lopez, but reporter Kevin Sessums got his piece posted on Tina Brown’s new Web site, The Daily Beast. Sessums, originally hired to write this month’s J.Lo cover story for Elle, was pulled from the assignment after his first interview “got much too personal” and the magazine put another writer, Peter Rubin, on the profile at the request of Lopez’s reps.

Elle’s article flatteringly focuses on Lopez as a fashion icon. But Sessums describes a flu-ridden Lopez: “Her unwashed hair is pulled severely back and there’s a halo of frizz around the crown of her head.” The bootylicious singer/actress also told Sessums she doesn’t breast-feed her newborn twins, is willing to put the kids in Scientology classes, and said she had “a kind of nervous breakdown” while filming “Enough” (2002). Lopez isn’t a Scientologist but she told Sessums her father is.

A rep for Lopez said of Sessums’ interview appearing on The Daily Beast, “We’re very unhappy about it, and think it was poor judgment on his part. As long as we have represented Jennifer, we have never heard her refer to having a breakdown of any sort.” One insider told us the photo shoot and interview were pitched to Lopez as “a fashion discussion about a woman who had new babies and was doing it all.”

The woman Sessums portrayed was a weepy, fragile new mother who admitted, “I did cry a lot [after the babies were born] because I was having so much trouble moving. I had a C-section.

“I couldn’t get up fast enough to feed the babies. It went on for about three days. [Husband] Marc [Anthony] was helping out a lot and I was crying and crying and going, ‘Oh, Papi, they’re going to know everybody more than me . . . They’re going to love everybody more than me!’ ”

Sessums and an Elle rep didn’t return calls.

[From Page Six]

The version published on The Daily Beast sure wasn’t flattering, but it certainly didn’t come off as malicious in any way. It seems like Sessums simply didn’t cover up for J-Lo, and wrote what she talked about. That’s pretty crappy of her to get his story thrown out for something she found more appealing, but certainly not surprising. In the original story makes her sound very self-involved and unaware. I don’t think she came off as a nutball or anything, just as someone who has no understanding of how she sounds to other people.

It’s hard to say to what extent the Scientology discussion played into the article. Lopez talked a lot about how they’re misunderstood and unnecessarily judged; and it’s clear she’s a Scientology sympathizer, if not an actual member. On Monday night she and Scientologist BFF Leah Remini were at the Elle Women in Hollywood Tribute and they acted more like each other’s dates than friends. Or more like giggly high school girls. No matter how much I love my friends, I manage not to hold their hands when we go to the bathroom together.

J-Lo clearly overshared and regretted it. I’m sure being sick didn’t help things. I’ve made bad decisions about Jennifer Lopez when I was sick too. Once, when I had one of the worst flues of my life, I watched The Cell and thought it was so great I had to own it. A few weeks later I watched it without the benefit of NyQuil or a high fever and realized just how much being sick can affect your judgment.

Here’s Jennifer with Leah Remini at the Elle’s “Women in Hollywood Event” at the Four Seasons Hotel in L.A. on Monday. Photographer: Nikki Nelson. Images thanks to WENN.

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