Jennifer Love Hewitt: Love Lessons

Q: Your costars are no slouches in the acting department. Were you intimidated?

A: It was unbelievable to work with Anthony Hopkins. To work with Alec Baldwin was even more unbelievable. The biggest moment was the day we had to shoot the speech that comes at the end of the movie where Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin take me, Satan, to the court of heaven and hell, and I have to try to convince the jury that God is actually the bad one, not me. Anyway, when I was sitting in rollers watching Anthony act, I realized I was not meant to be there, that I had never actually learned how to act. I thought, "I've built an entire career without having any idea what I am doing because this man, right now, is really acting." I ran into my trailer crying, being completely melodramatic and feeling sorry for myself.

Q: Who extracted you from your trailer?

A: Alec came to me and said, "You wouldn't be here if I didn't think you were going to be great." Then, Anthony came and said, "This acting stuff is kind of scary," and I said, "It sure is." They told me the way I was feeling was probably a lot like how Satan was feeling, that this was Satan's first chance to say how left out and hurt she felt at not being chosen as an angel. Alec and Anthony Hopkins made me look at them while I shot my speech. They wanted me to have to look at the people I was most afraid of. When it was done, Alec cried, put his arms around me and said, "That's why you're in this movie," and Anthony said, "You're one of us now. Congratulations." For Anthony and Alec to have that much heart just goes to show that they're good, good people.

Q: How did you and Alec Baldwin feel when reporters said that the two of you were romantically involved?

A: Part of us laughed. Part of me felt really sorry for him. He's such a good man. There are sides of your personality that sometimes you show that you don't mean to, but you do because you're frustrated. But, Alec is a very good, very upstanding, honorable man and father. It upset me because I didn't want people to think I was in the movie to be romantic with Alec Baldwin on camera. I also didn't want people to think for one second that he was not in love with his wife because he was, is, whatever--it's none of my business.

Q: But you two were very close, weren't you?

A: The reason we were such good friends is that I've experienced parents splitting up and he was splitting from his wife at the time. I was able to help him with his daughter, help make her understand that he wasn't going away. I think he gravitated toward me because I was sort of like a daughter to him. He was able to turn to me and ask, "Am I screwing this up? Did I handle that situation OK?" But my friendship with Alec got turned into such an unfortunate, like, scandal thing that was just so unnecessary.

Q: You've also been romantically linked with Broadway stars such as Craig Bierko and Patrick Wilson, musician John Mayer and "Survivor" winner Ethan Zohn, who's also in this issue. Any of them true?

A: The last time you and I talked for this magazine, we had to discuss the Carson [Daly] stuff, which was going on at the time. Since then, I've gotten to a really good place that I think is healthy. I've figured that I give away about 98 percent of all the secrets of my life--what I look like, who I hang out with, letting people take pictures of me while I'm shopping. I don't complain about any of that--in fact, I'm a ham and I love it. But my resolution for the new year was that I am going to keep two percent just for me.

Q: Are you happy?

A: I'm really happy right now, feel really good about myself. I'll leave it at that.

Q: You must catch a lot of flak for still living with your mother.

A: [Laughs] Oh, God, are you going to give me some, too? Yes, we still live in the same house. We have a good time. We have slumber parties. We were both getting insecure the other day because people were saying we were weird. I talked with her and said, "Um, are you happy?" and she said, "Yeah, I love our life." I said, "Me too, what are we worried about?" So we danced around the house and celebrated the fact that maybe we're weird to everybody else but we have a great time with just us.

Q: Why have you decided now to come out with an album?

A: It took me 14 years to come back to what I actually came to Los Angeles to do--that is, to be a singer. I chose the title Barenaked because I feel naked and kind of exposed releasing this record. My heart is in every word and I sang my heart out. Music is something I've never done in front of my peers--that they know of, I mean--because I've done it but they've never paid attention. I'm prepared for people to say, "Great, here's this actress trying to become a singer."

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