Jennifer Love Hewitt: One Hundred Percent from the Heart

Since were talking about her romantic life, I ask, "How are things going with Carson on the whole?"

"I am very, very happy in my relationship," she says, and offers to share a poem she recently penned, perhaps inspired by her new beau. She recites:

"Enchanted by you.

Mesmerized. Living off your glow.

My heart searches for a place for you, but finds nowhere to go.

Kiss me once to bring me life.

Kiss me twice to bring me breath.

Shh! my love, don't say a word.

Just kiss me until death."

Having delivered the last line of her poem, Hewitt lets out a rip-roaring giggle. "Carson is great," she smiles. "We have a great time. The only bad thing about Carson and me is that he lives in New York, so we don't go out often. We're basically like an AT&T commercial, stacking up those free minutes on the phone. We've only been dating a few months, but we laugh a lot and there's a lot of support there. I don't believe the entertainment business is tougher on relationships because of separations or because of the pretty people it keeps putting in front of you. People make decisions. If you make the wrong choice, it has nothing to do with the industry and everything to do with you."

You might have to be as young as Hewitt to say what she says without being remotely disingenuous and still have people think you can see straight. But since showbiz youngsters regularly outdo their elders for cynicism, I find her attitude rather charming. Still, I can't help playing with her a little. "Love, don't you realize how far people have gotten in Hollywood being nasty and utterly disreputable?"

Hewitt's expression sobers as she observes, "I don't understand the whole philosophy in Hollywood--or anywhere else--of people feeling they have to be nasty to other people. I've made an absolutely conscious choice about this stuff. I see people surrounding themselves in a circle of me, myself and I, which gets old really quick. Because its around me all the time, I handle it by being really honest with the person who's doing it and saying, Do you know you're the most ridiculous person in the world? Look in the mirror, will you, and say, "Hi, I'm lucky!" I've had heart-to-heart talks with people I've worked with where I've gone, 'You should stop this. Smile. See what that feels like. Don't you see, you're so lucky?' "

"Do they ever say back, What fairy tale are you living in?"

"Oh, of course," Hewitt laughs. "But I'm happy in the fairy tale I'm living in. I'm not saying that every day pink clouds surround me and happy birds and animals flock to be near me. I have bad days like everybody else. I know what reality is. I just know that what I do, how I think, how I am makes me happy and gets me through life smiling. What's wrong with that?"

I can assure you that Hewitt's power of positive thinking gets tested by irritants on a regular basis. Half an hour ago, when she and I were walking up Planet Hollywood's stairs under the staring eyes of everyone in the packed place, a paunchy nimrod jammed his finger at her and bellowed--erroneously--"Hey, Scream 2 --all right!" Hewitt smiled so disarmingly at him, he turned instantly from a boor to a pussycat.

"With all the attention being paid to you now, do you ever think, Why me?" I ask.

"Absolutely," Hewitt answers levelly. "Since I Know What You Did Last Summer, suddenly the littlest thing I do becomes more important, more interesting, more special. It's overwhelming. I don't get it at all. I look in the mirror and, believe me, I see someone very average, and I'm happy with that. I know there are people that are prettier and more talented than me. But the other day at a photo shoot, I looked in the mirror and for once in a really, really long time, I went, You know what? Today, I look really pretty. I gave the photographer the biggest hug in the world and said, Thank you so much for making me feel pretty! I am incredibly insecure." Yanking back her long locks, she commands, with an infectious, full-bodied giggle, "Look at these ears--I mean, they are big. The right one flaps over and the left one doesn't even match it. And when I get flustered or something they turn bright red, which makes me even more embarrassed."

As long as were talking insecurity, I ask, "Do you think you're a good actress?"

"I don't know," Hewitt muses. "I do know that I'm incredibly driven and I love what I do. And I am a huge workaholic. If somebody needed me to work 24 hours a day for them, I would do it. My mom worries about me because I just don't relax. She's like, Take a break. Chill out. Eat some French fries. With my acting, I don't think I've found a comfortable place yet. I still feel, when I finish a scene, that I could have done better. I hope I always have a little bit of doubt there, though, because it keeps you on your toes. I don't study acting much because I want it to be natural and 100 percent from the heart, which is the only way to do anything. Also, I want to do it for myself and have no one else to blame but me.

"Believe me, if I could, I would blame other people, like saying, My acting teacher told me to do it that way. I think acting teachers and coaches come into your life to inspire you and to let you know that it's OK to need help. But you have to reach a point where you have to take chances, make mistakes and feel responsible for your choices, successes and failures."

Speaking of choices, Hewitt's made some downright risky ones lately, like choosing to play her idol, the impeccable, irreplaceable Audrey Hepburn, in an ABC biomovie. But first I'm wondering about her take on the movie just about to hit screens all over the country, the inevitable sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Pages: 1 2 3