It’s always amazing/fascinating to see how different Christina Aguilera looks when she’s not A) stumbling around drunk in candid photos, B) applying her makeup herself while under the influence and C) wearing her patented “clown face” style of said makeup. I know this Latina Magazine cover has a healthy dose of Photoshop, but Christina is definitely helped along by a quality makeup job and lighter, more appropriate makeup.

On getting married and divorced at a young age: “Was I too young? Not at all. I did the exact right thing at the time….I definitely wasn’t too young. I have always been older than my age.”

On growing older: “I was on the set of a film and the choreographer was 19 and I looked around at all the dancers and I was like, ‘Whoa! I’m the oldest person in this room. When did that happen?’”

On reconnecting with her father: “I’ve talked about how rough things were for me and I’m sure he’s heard it. He can’t be thrilled about it. So maybe one day we can do lunch…I’m 31 years old now. Maybe it’s time.”

On resting up from the intensity of shooting The Voice: “When I’m shooting The Voice, it’s intense. On a day like today, my ex has my son and we are not shooting, so I slept and I just slept. I love doing everything in my bed. Eating, sleeping…It’s my domain and my throne…I do it all in my bed.”

On how she handles gossip and brutal reviews: “I don’t read them. Ever…Why read what people are saying—good or bad?”

On criticisms of not being Latina enough: “I’ve dealt with that my whole life. I don’t speak the language fluently. And I’m split right down the middle, half Irish and half Ecuadorean. I should not have to prove my ethnicity to anyone. I know who I am.”

On planning another Spanish-language album: “All I know is no one can tell me I’m not a proud Latina woman…I dove headfirst into a Spanish-language album for that reason and I’m planning another one even though I don’t speak the language. I’m sure that doesn’t sit well with some people.”

[From Latina]

Does Christina really get criticized for not being “Latina enough” or is that just a straw man argument Christina is using to throw herself a pity party? I’ve always known Christina is Latina, and I’ve never heard her deny it or shrug off her ancestry, unlike Jessica “Don’t Call Me Latina, I‘m Merely Racially Ambiguous” Alba. I don’t think Christina has a problem there, I really don’t. And if she wants to do another Spanish album, go for it.

My favorite quotes was the thing about “Eating, sleeping…It’s my domain and my throne…I do it all in my bed.” Damn, ‘Tina. We get it. You eat pork chops in bed. You apply your clown makeup in bed. You guzzle your box of tequila in bed. And then you have sex with your boy toy IN BED.

Additional photos courtesy of PCN, WENN.

True story: yesterday’s Christina Aguilera story grossed me out. Christina performed at Etta James’s funeral, and the whole thing was arguably disastrous. My take was that Christina made the funeral about her drunken wailing, her sketchy, gross-looking bolt-ons, and the fact that she had something dripping down her legs. Oh, and she probably wasn’t wearing panties. That’s the gross part – worst case scenario, she was dribbling urine or menstruation, which likely means Christina was going commando to a FUNERAL. Best case scenario, Christina was drunk and overheated, and she sweated off several layers of body makeup/fake-tan. Anyway, Christina has heard our cries of “EWWwwww” and she (an “insider”) tells Us Weekly what was really going on:

Xtina did Etta proud. Christina Aguilera sang at Saturday’s memorial service at an L.A. church for the late Etta James — crooning the legendary blues’ singer’s classic “At Last” for hundreds of mourners. (Stevie Wonder sang with the church choir, while Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy.)

In photos of Aguilera’s incredible tribute to James — who passed away Jan. 20 — fans noticed odd streaks running down her legs.

“She sang her heart out. It was a memorial service for her idol and she was nervous,” an insider explains to Us of the performance. (Aguilera, 31, has been covering “At Last” for years and called James “a true gift to music and a woman of great spirit and courage” on her website after James’ death.”

“It was her proudest moment,” the source explains. “The sweat caused her spray tan to streak.”

[From Us Weekly]

Do you like how Us Weekly broke up that quote? “She was nervous…” AND? She was nervous, so she piddled on herself? She was nervous so she had diarrhea? She was nervous because she wasn’t wearing drawers in church?!?! TELL ME. Ah, she was nervous and sweating. Got it. That’s what I originally thought too, but in other photos I’ve seen of the sketchy liquid, I have to admit… (ugh)… I think she might have gotten her period. I don’t know.

These are new photos of Christina, her son and Matt Rutler from Sunday. Are those her period leggings?

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.

Christina Aguilera was invited to Etta James’s funeral. I mean, I’m assuming she was invited, and she didn’t just show up and drunkenly hijack the funeral with her screeching. Not only was Christina invited, she performed “At Last” – Etta’s standard and one of her most beloved songs. While Etta’s performances of “At Last” were always sung beautifully and simply, allowing the emotion of the song and singer to come through, Christina treated the song like a drunken vocal exercise, of course, and began scream-singing immediately, like she always does. Like she was up there with an invisible stage full of Divas Live, and Christina wanted to make sure that you only heard her voice. This isn’t a debate about whether or not Christina CAN sing. She can. It’s about HOW she sings, the lack of emotional connection to the song, the “LOOK AT ME, I’M SINGING THE HELL OUT OF THIS SONG, BECAUSE IT‘S ALL ABOUT ME” quality to all of her recent public performances. Here’s Christina’s performance:

Ugh. If you think that was a good version of the song, you need to invest in better quality music.

Incidentally, Christina still managed to create a minor controversy with this performance. No, she didn’t drunkenly flub the lines (like she did when she sang the National Anthem), nor did she drunkenly bust her ass on the stage (like she did at the Grammys). No, people are wondering if Christina might have had some kind of loose-bowel situation during her performance. Gross, I know, but there are photos (which we don’t have access to) – go here to see the closeups at The Blemish. Many seem to think it’s urine, but I’m going to say it’s sweat. Sweat mixed with body makeup, because Christina looks like she just rolls around in a vat of orange foundation.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Isn’t it amazing how Christina Aguilera looks so much prettier when she’s not wearing insane, drag queen clown makeup? Isn’t it wonderful that someone sober did her makeup for this Marie Claire photo shoot? She looks so different! Anyway, Christina covers the February issue of Marie Claire, likely to promote The Voice, but also to talk about body image and her divorce and all of that stuff. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

Christina on her year after filing for divorce (basically, all of 2011): “That was a rough year,” Aguilera admits, shaking her head. “Between my divorce and the other things I went through, a lot happened. It’s hard for anyone to go through that in public. But when you’re a celebrity and under a microscope, it’s 58 million times harder. I grew an even thicker skin after that hard year.”

On her weight gain: Lately, she’s been subjected to cruel tabloid headlines about her fluctuating weight. (“I was never that fat,” crowed Kelly Osbourne on E! Fashion Police.) Aguilera’s response, she says, is to ignore the static. “I’ve been through my highs, I’ve been through my lows; I’ve been through the gamut of all things in this business. Being too thin. Being bigger. I’ve been criticized for being on both sides of the scale. It’s noise I block out automatically. I love my body. My boyfriend loooves my body. My son is healthy and happy, so that’s all that matters to me.”

She’s confident in her skin: “I have certain physical features that I favor over others. We all have our areas,” she says. “When I worked on Burlesque, I lost so much weight that I was too skinny. I don’t weigh myself — it’s all about how I feel in my clothes. What looks good on one person might not look good on another body type. I happen to be very confident in my own skin. It takes time to get to that place, but it’s all about embracing yourself and your body.”

On “the white-blonde Betty Boop routine”: “It is called show business,” Aguilera says.

[From Marie Claire]

Some of you dislike that Christina’s weight gain has gotten notice and criticism, and to her credit, I think Christina handles the criticism very well and with a lot of class, perspective and professionalism. Personally, I don’t think people would be talking about it so much if A) Christina dressed for the figure she has now and B) Christina didn’t seem so unhealthy. Like, she doesn’t look like she just has a problem with French fries. She looks like she drinks heavily and has a drunken-clown-makeup addiction.

Photos courtesy of Marie Claire.

Maybe my perspective is just really skewed today, but I swear that Christina Aguilera looks kind of pregnant to me. But she’s not, I don’t think. She’s just wearing a bad dress that has too much fabric in the bodice, which makes her look heavier. These are photos from a Television Critics Association event, likely one of the many media events that NBC organized for their 2012 lineup – the same event where Jessica Simpson out-preggo’d everyone, forever. Christina actually looks… better? Better than how she’s looked the past few months. At this event, Christina looked sober (sober-ish), and while the dress is probably too low-cut for this kind of event, everything is in its place and everything fits, which is an improvement. That horrible drag queen makeup kills my soul, though. Ugh. Anyway, People Magazine has an interesting piece where Christina is once-again defending her new fuller figure:

Christina Aguilera knows what it takes to stand tall in the glare of the spotlight.

“You got to be a strong, powerful, very confident woman,” she told PEOPLE at a Television Critics Association event for The Voice, which returns to NBC Feb. 5 after the Super Bowl.

The mentor, who coached Beverly McClellan to the show’s first season finale, says that it’s especially difficult for women in the entertainment business.

“Women, we are definitely under a microscope and under massive scrutiny,” Aguilera, 31, said. “As long as I am happy in my own skin, that is all that is all the confirmation I need.”

But, she adds, it’s nice to have approval of the one she loves, including her beau, Matt Rutler. “I have a boyfriend that loves my body,” she says. “I love my body, my son is healthy and happy and that is all that matters.”

Her message of “being comfortable in my own skin” and taking risks “whether it be crazy cotton candy hair or interesting theatrical makeup” is something Aguilera wants to pass on to her upcoming protégés on season 2 of The Voice.

“Being in a position to coach these young women, I am happy to be able to share that with them and share my highs and lows,” she says. “Being on the show, it’s a very good outlet for me.”

[From People]

The message: it’s all good because I have a boyfriend and he is attracted to me. The subtext: My boyfriend gets paid to hold my hair back when I’m praying to the porcelin Gods after I’ve had too much to drink, which is every night. I do love the way Christina describes herself though – “crazy cotton candy hair or interesting theatrical makeup” – that’s one of the better spins I’ve ever heard. Much better than my version, “busted wiglet and clown makeup.” But if she’s happy, God bless. I’m tired of yelling at her. She’ll end up in rehab one day, and then we’ll hear about how she just had to drink so much because she secretly hated her body.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

I can’t even imagine what Matthew Rutler’s life is like right now. A few years ago, he was just a production assistant in LA, enjoying his early 20s, perhaps living paycheck to paycheck. He goes to work one day on Burlesque, and suddenly Christina Aguilera is leaving her husband and she moves Rutler into her house and he becomes part of her entourage of sycophantic yes-men. Perhaps Rutler is even the most important part of her entourage – he’s in change of making sure his girlfriend wears pants in public (he fails at that job sometimes), he’s in change of driving his girlfriend home every night after she gets hammered at random bars (he failed there too), and what else? I guess they have sex too. Although I imagine it’s a mess, both literally and figuratively. A whirl of orange foundation, clown lipstick, booze, bleached wiglets, chicken wings and sadness. But maybe Christina is a better lover than I’m giving her credit for – she seems like a void of narcissism, and sometimes “egotistical” makes for a good lover.

Anyway, the rumor going around In Touch Weekly is that Rutler wants to marry Christina, and Christina wants to marry Rutler, but as of yet, no one has actually proposed.

Christina Aguilera is so anxious to marry boyfriend Matthew Rutler that she’s preparing to pop the question herself. Indeed, Christina, 30, has not been shy about telling friends and family that she and her beau are definitely getting married.

According to friends of the couple, “She makes jokes about him proposing all the time in front of him. He gets a little embarrassed, but it’s obvious they’ve talked about it. It’s coming soon. She wants to start over and thinks that asking him to marry her is the way to start.”

But another friend says Matthew, 26, may actually beat her to the punch. He wants to propose over Christmas but he’s scrounging for money to buy her a rock. Unlike Christina’s ex-husband, Jordan Bratman, Matthew doesn’t have the funds to keep up with Christina’s lifestyle or extravagant tastes.

“He wants to buy her a major diamond, so he’s saving his pennies,” a friend said. “He’s going to propose this year, even if he has to buy the ring on credit.”

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition]

I don’t have a problem with a lady proposing to her dude, but let’s just call this what it is – a rich, boozehound diva wanting to marry the guy that cleans her up when she’s had too much of the sauce. We don’t have to put a bow on it. Christina should buy herself a gigantic diamond and order Rutler to propose to her. That’s how Jessica Simpson did it, right?

Photos courtesy of WENN & Fame.

We didn’t have photos of Christina Aguilera at the American Music Awards yesterday, because Christina didn’t pose on the red carpet or anything. She was probably getting hammered in her dressing room. Anyway, the big moment for Christina was when she came out to sing “Moves Like Jagger” with Maroon 5, and everybody was slightly taken aback by Christina’s figure, clad in a shiny white Herve Leger bandage dress. I’ve screen capped it a little bit, but you should totally watch the video – everything past 2:10 has Christina:

Like, her boobs are hanging out so much that I’m pretty sure we’re seeing some areola. And I guess Christina didn’t feel like wearing Spanx? My guess is that she was probably out there, commando, showing her makeup-stained biscuits to the front row.

Anyway, we’ve been talking about Christina’s weight gain (“booze bloat”) for a while now. I’m not yelling at Christina because she dared to gain some weight, but I will yell at her for looking like she’s spent most of this year drowning her sorrows in Scotch and orange foundation. And I’ll yell at her for wearing the wrong kinds of clothes to go with her new, fuller figure. But none of that matters because Christina thinks she looks great:

Christina Aguilera isn’t model thin and she doesn’t care!

The 30-year-old superstar performed at the American Music Awards Sunday night and RadarOnline.com has photos of her in a skin tight sparkling Herve Leger dress.

Critics have slammed the singer’s robust figure, even saying she looked pregnant, but she doesn’t let that bother her.

“Christina loves her curves,” a friend close to the singer exclusively told RadarOnline.com. “She is not pregnant! She’s a Latina woman with curves and since when is it not ok to have curves?”

Recently photographed looking like she’s put on a few pounds, Christina has told her friends that she is “proud” of her body.

“She feels like she is setting an example for women and young girls, especially Latinas. She’s very proud of her curves. Christina thinks she is a good role model – not everyone is super skinny and she wants girls to embrace their body type.”

Christina told her friends that she will continue wearing revealing dresses.

“It’s not what you look like in a dress, it is how you feel and it is about owning your dress. If you want to wear a tight dress then own it. She says you need to be happy in your own skin the way she is happy in hers.”

[From Radar]

It’s somewhat clever to use her weight gain/booze bloat as some kind of feminist, pro-curves rallying cry. I’m also enjoying the implicit “SHE MEANT TO DO THAT” argument, although I don’t buy it for a second. Christina is getting older, her metabolism is slowing down, and she can’t drink like she used to without all of those empty liquor calories piling on. And she would go on a diet, but she’s just too drunk. This Radar story was the equivalent of Christina slurring out, “Doncha think imma sessy?” before passing out in her martini.

Screencaps of Christina’s performance. Additional pics by Fame.

Lord knows I criticize Christina Aguilera enough. To be fair, she’s a drunken, egomaniacal monster. But these photos from two nights ago are amusing me. Christina was out with her boy-toy, Matt Rutler, in Malibu. Allegedly, they were having dinner, although I’m guessing that “dinner” consisted of a dozen vodka martinis with extra olives for sustenance. Rutler does an admirable job of feigning sobriety, but Christina… well, the girl is a drunk bitch. At least she seems like a happy drunk these days. She’s all “PPPSSSSSTTT…Imma gonna wink atcha. See mah wink. Imma sober.”

Christina reminds me of how I used to be when I got wasted on a regular basis. Like, I would think that I was maintaining really well and then someone would show me photos from the night and my face was all puffy and my eye was twitching from the flash and I was just a hot mess. I think that’s where Christina is right now – she gets wasted and she thinks she’s “fooling” everybody because, in her mind, she’s maintaining her buzz so well. Takes a drunk bitch to know a drunk bitch.

Also: I’m pretty sure that’s basically the same outfit she wore to the pumpkin patch, and those are the same unflattering leggings she’s been wearing for more than a month. Do you think those stretched-to-the-limit leggings are the only things that fit at this point? Oh, well. At least she’s wearing a hat so we don’t have to see how she drunkenly poured orange foundation into her roots.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.

Dear God, how terrible does Christina Aguilera look? A few weeks ago, I noted that Christina was looking a bit better after a series of really awful public appearances, including her uncomfortably bad showing at the Michael Jackson Tribute concert in Wales. Christina seemed to “get” that she needed to stop the boozing and actually ease up on the drag queen makeup – or so I hoped. But her appearance last night at “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Launch Party” just shows that with X-Tina, it’s one step forward, ten drunken stumbles back. There’s not even anything I can find to compliment in this look. Her makeup is terrible. Her wiglet is completely busted. She looks like the puffy alcoholic she is. The outfit, while terrible, does seem to do its best at hiding some of Christina’s problem areas, though. The jacket is Versace, and the shirt is Alexander McQueen.

The Mail notes that this video game launch isn’t really Christina’s scene, which… makes sense, I guess. She probably just came for the booze. And maybe she thought it would be a fun “date night” with her lover and kept man, Matt Rutler. They were even making out on the red carpet too. These photos are both gross and hilarious. I love the faces Rutler makes when Christina is trying to kiss him. He must be like, “UGH, this drag queen wants to fondle me again. Now I’m going to be smeared with clown makeup for the rest of the night.” Of course, Rutler looks drunk too. They probably shared a bottle of whiskey before their “date night”.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

OMG. Christina Aguilera looks… good? Well, she looks much better than she’s looked in a while. These are photos of Christina at the LA press junket for The Voice over the weekend. What’s the big difference? I guess the makeup… the makeup has greatly improved. She’s still wearing way too much, but someone made the effort to give her a makeup style that flattered her face and makes her look younger and less garish. Softer lips, a less heavy eye… generally less “I reapplied this junk in a dark bar after winning a drinking contest, beating all of the Hell‘s Angels.” The hair is still pretty busted, but at least it doesn’t look like her wiglet is all drunk and askew. Bitch got her roots done.

As for her body… well, the problem is still the fact that Christina doesn’t wear clothes that flatter her figure. The skirt doesn’t so anything for her, and the blouse looks cheap. That being said, it’s an improvement over her recent concert outfits, and her casual outfits. The last time I wrote about Christina, she was wandering around Agent Provocateur pantsless and wearing a trucker hat, and she was desperate for attention and validation – I hope she sees that she can still get attention just by putting some effort into looking “nice” for her public appearances.

Photos courtesy of WENN.