Jennifer Lopez told People Magazine in the interview that accompanied her $6 million baby pay day that she was training to compete a triathlon in six months. Then she gave the eyebrow raising reason that she wants her “babies to be proud” of her. As if seven month old babies are proud that their mom devoted hours training daily:

Lopez gave birth to wins Emme and Max on 22 February (08) and is already focusing on taking part in a endurance event, in which participants swim, cycle and run, later this year (08).

She reveals her intention in an exclusive new People Magazine interview, prompting journalist Peter Castro to ask her when she plans to enter a triathlon.

She replies, “Probably in October, September/October… I want my babies to be proud of me.”

The singer/actress has rehired celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson to help her get in shape for the grueling challenge.

[From The Post Chronicle via Gossip Rocks]

Jennifer Lopez bugs the shit out of me. She’s getting fit so she can be slim and feel better, so why not admit that? It’s part of her job to maintain her physique and she can certainly train for a triathlon if that’s what she wants to do, but it’s for her, not for her newborn babies.

This week’s National Enquirer had details of Lopez’s exercise regime and says she paid that trainer Gunnar Peterson $75,000 for an emergency shape-up:

“Jennifer called Gunnar, who lives in Beverly Hills, and asked him to get on a plane as soon as possible to come to New York.”

J.Lo flew Gunnar first class and paid him at least $75,000″ for the “exercise emergency,” revealed the insider.

“Gunnar has Jennifer doing different high-cardio workout programs at her home gym for an hour to an hour and a half every day.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, March 31, 2008]

It’s understandable that she wants to get in shape right away, but somehow I see everything through that “J.Lo is a selfish wench” lens and it maddens me that she says her babies will somehow know and be proud when all they want is their mom’s love and care. Compare what Lopez is saying to how her ex’s wife Jennifer Garner did it. Garner got in shape and although it’s hard to tell she claimed she took her time with it and that “I could not motivate myself to work out. I wasn’t going to give up that time with Violet.” [via CBB]

J.Lo on breastfeeding
J.Lo is not breastfeeding her babies, and says of her decision that “My mom didn’t breast feed and I think that was the thing for me. You read and figure out what’s the best thing for them.” Even the formula brochures say breast feeding is best so I don’t know what she’s reading. And that is not a dig at women who don’t breast feed - it’s aimed at J.Lo’s stupid comment about what’s best for babies. There is nothing to figure out.

I thought that motherhood might change Lopez enough to make me see some positive qualities in her. Maybe I shouldn’t judge until I read the whole interview, but from the quotes I’ve found she sounds like the same old person who thinks the world revolves around her and pauses to make sure she has every luxury item her heart desires. She’s not going to give up anything for those babies and she doesn’t think she has to.

The offspring of Jennifer Lopez and her cadaverous mate, Marc Anthony, are this week’s cover babies on People Magazine. The new issue hits newsstands tomorrow, featuring a very made-up and airbrushed Lopez and her two sleeping babies, Max and Emme. Inside the mag are “intimate portraits” of the diva and the newborns in their nursery. I am sorry to report that the two darlings look exactly like their father. But hey– that could change in a matter of weeks, given how quickly newborns change and grow, so no need to panic just yet.

This week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, features 12 pages of new photos of the pop star with husband Marc Anthony and their 1-month-old bundles of joy inside their Long Island home and nursery.

The happy new parents spoke candidly to PEOPLE about the pregnancy, addressing everything from Jennifer’s weight gain to rumors of infertility. For all the details, pick up the new issue, on newsstands Friday.

[From People]

Journalist/kiss-ass to the stars Peter Castro, who interviewed the couple for People, said in a promotional video that JLo gained 45 pounds during the pregnancy and though she has lost a lot of it, she is in no rush to get back to her pre-baby weight and is concentrating on motherhood. Pardon me if I call bullshit on that. Those late-pregnancy photos tend to suggest that JLo gained considerably more than 45 pounds- girlfriend was HUGE! He added that when JLo first took a positive pregnancy test, she didn’t believe it and sent out one of her assistants to the drugstore to buy more pregnancy tests.

Castro also revealed that even though the couple has two nurses, two assistants and a butler, the couple “does a lot of the work themselves” with the babies. Riiiiight. Anyway, the world can breathe a sigh of relief now that the twins have been revealed. Congrats to the new parents.

Jennifer Lopez’s manager has revealed the baby names chosen for her twins with husband Marc Anthony, born early in the morning on February 22. The boy and girl twins are named Max and Emme, which TMZ points out are coincidentally the names of the brother and sister on the PBS Kids cartoon Dragon Tales. The show also includes some snippets in Spanish to help children learn the second most spoken language in the US. When I heard that they had the same names as the characters in a bilingual children’s show it occurred to me that at least they didn’t call them Dora and Diego. Max and Emme are cute names that are original while not potentially embarrassing, and sound like a good choice.

More details are coming out about Jennifer Lopez’s exclusive birth at North Shore University hospital on Long Island. The tabloids are reporting that the hospital stay cost an estimated $1.4 million and that her party was loud and prevented another woman who had just given birth from sleeping. What’s more is that another woman who had her baby a few hours before Lopez came was kicked out of the room slated for the singer when she arrived a little earlier than expected. J.Lo had gone into labor before her scheduled c-section. Security was also super tight on the maternity ward when she was there:

Cynthia Leon, of Kew Gardens, NY, says she was resting comfortably just hours after giving birth to her fifth child, a son named Horatio, when she was told to pack her bags by the staff.

“I was just thinking how lucky I was because the room was so much prettier than the regular rooms; it even had a plasma-screen TV,” says Leon. “Then I find out I’m moving to make room for J.Lo!…”

According to first-time dad Tom Sheehan of Lindenhurst, NY, his exhausted wife, Elizabeth, who labored from 20 hours, had a restless night of sleep because of all the cheering coming from J.Lo’s suite.

“It sounded like a crowd of people, and they were up all night,” says Sheehan. “They were making so much noise, you would have thought they were the only ones on the floor. We’re happy for them, but my wife could barely get any sleep…”

According to one source, “J.Lo’s guards had the whole place blocked off… It’s the most security I’ve ever seen, especially for a maternity ward!”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, March 10, 2008]

And here’s In Touch’s breakdown of the cost of the birth, which they put at a whopping $1.4 million:

Hospital suite: $700,000
Private doctors and nurses: $300,000
Security: $300,000
Personal assistants: $100,000
Total: $1.4 million

[From In Touch, print edition, March 10, 2008]

A lot of people were bashing J.Lo for making such elaborate plans for the birth of her first babies, but can you blame her? I was very careful about everything before I gave birth, and even switched ob/gyns and decided to use a birth center on the day I was due as I got a bad feeling from one of the midwives. It’s only natural to want to set up a secure environment for your birth.

The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that Lopez has hired six new bodyguards and has closed-circuit cameras in every room in her mansions because she’s afraid of a potential kidnapping. She also has “a lifetime supply” of surgical masks that people must wear around the babies and has hand sanitizing liquid dispensers installed around the house. Again, I would have done that. I hated when people, namely strangers, would touch my son’s hands and face when he was just a newborn. They’re susceptible to a lot of germs at that age. When they get to be a few months it’s fine, but you understand mothers being protective of their newborns.

Jennifer Lopez had twins early this morning, with her rep releasing the details to the public. She had a girl weighing in at 5 lbs. 7 oz. at 12:12 am, and a boy at 12:23 am who weighed 6 lbs.

There is no word yet on what their names are of if they’ve already been named.

The newborns are the first for Lopez, 38, and the fourth and fifth for Anthony, 39, who has three children two boys from his first marriage, Cristian, 6, and Ryan, 4 and 1/2, and one daughter, Arianna, 13, from a girlfriend before his first wife.

The news came out on Wednesday that Lopez had checked into her suite at Northshore Hospital in Long Island. It sounds like she was in labor and had the twins naturally considering that they were born ten minutes apart very late at night. I thought that a lot of OB/GYNs recommended c-sections for twins.

6 and over 5 pounds is a very healthy weight for twins! No wonder she was so big. My son was nearly 9 pounds and I was huge at the end too.

Congratulations to Anthony and Lopez! We’re excited to see your 6 million dollar babies.

Update: I’m Not Obsessed has information from an insider who says that Lopez went in for an emergency c-section last night after going into labor.

[Some Details from People.com]

Speculation is rife that Christina Aguilera and that guy she’s married to were paid $1.5 million for the first pictures of new son Max. Harlow Winter Madden is worth about half that, although no figure has been put on what the price might have been if the babies had appeared on the cover together.

Jennifer Lopez is set to make $4-6 million for her twins, which is similar to the high sum paid for Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s debut, which earned a whopping $4.1 million. Her adopted sibling was not considered as cute at age four as a baby, and was worth about half that.

Why do babies make so much money for magazine covers? Is it because celebrities demand that much compensation for losing their private life? (Not that this stops them complaining later when paparazzi try to take pictures of the same child.) It’s because their covers sell.

“We just do tremendously well on the newsstand when we’ve got celebrity babies on the cover,” says Caperton (Kate, OK! magazine deputy editor), “because people love being with their favorite stars in these really important moments in their lives.”

Setting up a safe shoot with a guaranteed paycheck works out well for the parents, too.

“It’s more beneficial for celebrities to cooperate with a company like us to do their baby pictures versus not doing it, because then paparazzi will chase them and will not stop until they get the picture of that celebrity with the baby,” (Roxanne, Getty Images) Motamedi says. “But once the pictures are out, there is really no value of paparazzi chasing them and trying to get the baby shot.”

New York Daily News

Is it because we love to see how mum’s looking post-birth? They usually look way better than anyone else. There is a reason new mothers rarely send out pictures of mother and baby together in those first few days – the baby looks cute and they look like they’ve been through Hell. Probably because they have.

Or is it just because we all love babies?

Of course, babies don’t have to be fodder for checkbook journalism. Vanity Fair didn’t pay anything for rights to the first photos of Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. But that September 2006 issue still sold 60% more copies on newsstands than the average for that half of the year. The sell-through was such an anomaly that the title was forced to warn against comparing September 2006 sales with the abnormally successful issue a year prior.

Plenty of editors say paying up will pay you back. “It depends on what the cost is, but it’s a nice positive antidote to the more crazy celebrity stories that go on,” said Sarah Ivens, editor in chief of OK, part of Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell empire.

AdAge

Oh, I like that idea. I’d much rather see a baby than Britney Spears looking like a train wreck. Interestingly, Britney the train wreck must sell more magazines than her son Sean Preston, when he featured on the cover of People sales were down 15%.

Interestingly, I love babies more than ice cream, but actually couldn’t care less about a picture of one. That could be anyone’s child, one baby is pretty hard to tell from another. That’s why they are so careful putting name tags on them in the hospital. Partly because they can’t talk, but mostly due to the fact it’s hard to tell them apart.

So, I’m sensing a business opportunity here. I have a particularly cute baby at my place. Blue eyed, smiles lots, has a reasonable amount of dark hair, but not like the crazy mop Suri Cruise had. Wanna hire her? Just in case your ugly celebrity baby isn’t up to the pictures. The bidding starts at $1 million – that should pay for her and her siblings to go to college.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Remember these baby pictures of Shiloh? They were a big deal when they came out in June, 2006 and were featured in People and Hello!.

Jennifer Lopez is as big as a house right now. I guess she kind of is a house for babies right now. Anyway, the very-soon-to-be-mommy is doing what many of us do when we’re feeling less than fab about our figure – we shop. And not for clothes!

J.Lo has apparently splashed out on a $120,000 nursery for the twins.

Sources tell PageSix.com that the nursery awaiting the forthcoming fraternal twins is an ocean-themed room stocked in English furniture and French-made cribs decked out in hand-embroidered bedding.

The tiny pair will also gaze upon 18-karat gilded trim and chandeliers in Jennifer and Marc Anthony’s Long Island home, as well as in the nurseries in their Bel Air and Fisher Island homes. The total cost of digs for two adorable babes? Over $120,000.

For other parents an ‘ocean theme’ means that you put up a couple of Finding Nemo posters.

I say, why not splurge on a gorgeous nursery for your babies if you cannot afford it. Jennifer has long wanted babies, and now they’re finally coming, and she’s understandably excited. Sure, non-celeb parents would probably use that money to, er, buy a mini van, or make house payments, or educate their children, but a glam nursery is what a successful music career can buy you, as well as a Mercedes mini van, mansion, and private school education.

You know, if I had unlimited funds for a nursery, I think the first thing I’d put in it (besides a nanny) would be some cradles that rock electronically. And the Wiggles, as in, the band themselves. Maybe they could be my nannies? And something that changes the kids diapers for me. Oh, I guess that would be a nanny. Hmmn, I’m getting a little Jennifer Lopez envy here! I’d probably get the kid some cool toys that I could play with too, like really elaborate Lego, and a slide.

Anyway, now that we know J.Lo will be having twins, we are basically just waiting for her to pop them out. And some people suggest Valentine’s Day would be a nice day to have a baby.

The very pregnant actress has been out on the town of late showing off a very sizable baby bump. She and hubby and dad to be Marc Anthony just this week attended a reception to benefit UNICEF hosted by Gucci during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2008 at The Salon at Bryant Park on February 6th in New York City.

So how did she know she wasn’t headed to the hospital that night? She is scheduled to give birth on Valentine’s Day! J Lo has reportedly scheduled a C-section for next Thursday at New York North Shore University Medical Center.

National Ledger

Here’s another reason for the J.Lo envy – scheduled delivery. I begged, almost on my knees but it was too hard to get down on the floor, for a c-section when I was pregnant with my last child. I simply could not stand to be pregnant a second longer, but I got told no way. How do people get these scheduled sections when they’re not pregnant with twins like J.Lo? Do you bribe the hospital staff? I was never offered the opportunity to have an elective cesarean, but people keep talking about them. What secret do they know that I don’t? Maybe she has to have the babies on a certain day because of the kidnap protection plan in place.

Note by Celebitchy: This week’s Enquirer has details of the baby items Lopez registered for at elite boutique Petit Tresor, and they include a bassinet at $800, an Enchanted Forest highchair to the tune of $485, Simplicity crib linen at $535, a Monogram crib bedding set at $950, and a black Baby Jogger stroller at $560.

The Enquirer also states that Lopez will hire a nanny that costs $100,000 a year and “several” baby nurses at $150 an hour, who will work in 12 hour shifts.

Lopez and Anthony are shown at Madonna’s Kabbalah fundraiser last week, thanks to PRPhotos.

Thank God Jennifer Lopez is not such a self-absorbed diva that she thinks the world actually revolves around her. Wait, what? TMZ is reporting that the hospital where J-Lo is expected to give birth has been running anti-kidnapping drills in anticipation of her twins’ arrival. Though they don’t come out and actually say it, I’m pretty sure they’re doing it on J-Lo’s orders.

TMZ has learned that the Long Island hospital where J.Lo will probably give birth to her twins is practicing “pink drills” — code for thwarting a possible kidnapping.

Sources at North Shore Medical Center tell TMZ the hospital conducted a “Code Pink” drill last Friday — “Code Pink” is code for locking down the hospital to prevent a kidnapping attempt.

A rep for North Shore confirmed that the pink drill did indeed go down, but said that the timing is just a coincidence, but that’s not what our sources are saying.

[From TMZ]

Code Pink doesn’t sound nearly as effective as Code Black or even Code Blue. They need to pick scarier sounding colors to thwart kidnappers, that’s step number one. Something tells me that J-Lo and Skeltor will probably have their own private security at the hospital anyway… and the odds are pretty good they’re sticking the kids with little GPS chips as soon as they cut the cord.

I have no idea if this is normal for hospitals when famous people have babies. Maybe they all do it. One would hope that they all run drills consistently for the sake of all their patients, since no one baby is more valuable than the other. Though to be fair, J-Lo is having two babies, so I guess by that logic they’re twice as valuable. Seriously though, are her kids at any greater risk of being kidnapped than other celeb babies? You know at least one of them is going to be born all inside-out looking like their father. That’s a good crime deterrent right there.

Here’s J-Lo and Marc Anthony at Madonna’s “Raising Malawai” event on February 6th.

It’s been thought for a while that Jennifer Lopez, 38, might be pregnant with twins, and yesterday her father confirmed that J-Lo is doubly fertile. I thought she was pregnant with twins because she might have used IVF, which increases the likelihood of multiple births. But apparently twins run in the Lopez family.

The rumors are true, confirmed by no less a source than her father: Jennifer Lopez is expecting twins. And it isn’t even a Lopez family first.

“Yes, twins,” her dad David Lopez said in an interview on the Spanish-language show Escándalo TV, PEOPLE en Español reports. “The thing is in my family, my sister also had twins, so it’s a hereditary thing.”

For David Lopez, the news means double the excitement.

“I’m very proud. Jennifer has yearned to be a mother for many years,” he said.

[From People]

David Lopez says that he’s bought special azabache bracelets for the babies, which are a Puerto Rican tradition. The bracelets, make out of black stone, are supposed to protect the babies from the evil eye. Though considering J-Lo’s legendary diva behavior, I’m not sure the evil eye is the kids’ biggest concern.

Lopez has been spotted buying baby supplies for both a boy and a girl, which greatly increases our chances that we may be subjected to a Marc Anthony look alike. I swear to God, if there is a God, he will give them at least 90% of J-Lo’s genes. At least of the face genes. If one or both of those kids grow up to look like Marc Anthony, we’ll pretty much be able to end the debate about the existence of God. In less frightening news, Star reports that the couple plan on naming the babies Max and Emme. Well it’s no Pilot Inspektor (a la Jason Lee) but I suppose they’ll do.

Picture note by JayBird: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are shown outside their baby shower on 1/20/08.

Jennifer Lopez is simply enormous. I wonder how along she is exactly. Reports are putting her at about 8 months. Late enough in her pregnancy to be having a baby shower.

Jennifer Lopez celebrated her pregnancy with a baby shower Saturday on the rooftop of the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City.

The singer and her husband Marc Anthony both attended the afternoon shower, which was hosted by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Lopez’s producer on the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan.

Lopez, 38, “looked very pretty – and very pregnant,” according to an eyewitness, who saw the couple arrive flanked by bodyguards.

Among the guests were actress Leah Remini and designer Roberto Cavalli, who gifted Lopez with a pink leopard crib, according to a source. As for the décor, everything at the shower was blue and pink – and the room was covered with Swarovski crystal, said the source.

People

I hope that she is having twins, since they say in your second pregnancy you get even bigger than the first. If J.Lo wants a sibling for her first baby (babies?) she’s going to need to carry her bump around on a wheelbarrow.

Jennifer recently said she didn’t officially announce her pregnancy because she thought everyone kind of knew. Maybe this is why there’s been no official announcement of twins. Alternatively, she might not know what she is having herself (boy or girl, I’m hoping she knows if it’s twins!) and is hedging her bets with pink and blue decorations.

And what do you buy for a baby born into privilege? The New York Daily News suggests her gift registry at Petit Tresor features a Balmoral black carriage for $3,495, a $560 jogging stroller and two $349 cashmere outfits - one pink and one blue.

Actually, a $560 jogging stroller is a bargain. Not too sure about the cashmere.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are shown outside their baby shower on 1/20/08.

Mariah Carey is one of those crazy celebrities that has mostly managed to make the crazy work with her instead of against her. After a much publicized breakdown a few years ago, Mariah took some time off, got her head (and whatever else was at fault) in order, and came back with her strongest music ever. But apparently she’s still not sensible enough to know that you just don’t mess with J-Lo. The two have had a longstanding feud. I have no idea over what – probably over who can hit high pitched warbly notes better. Mariah was recently asked if she’d ever appear with J-Lo.

Mimi put a swift end to speculation that she was planning to collaborate with J.Lo, by insisting it would “never happen” – and then comparing her diva rival to a pig. When asked about a possible duet by US TV show Inside Hollywood, the Hero singer fumed, “I’d rather be on stage with a pig! A duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just isn’t going to happen.”

So that’s a ‘no’ then?

Mariah recently slammed her ‘diva’ reputation, claiming she’s never been difficult to deal with.

She said: “I am baffled, shocked and appalled when I am called a diva,” she moans. “I’ve never done one diva-ish thing in my life. The actual definition of a diva is a woman who sings well. The secondary definition is a woman who is difficult to deal with. I hope I am the first, but I really don’t think I am the second. I don’t believe I am truly nasty and act in a bad way.”

[From Entertainmentwise]

She doesn’t believe that she’s truly nasty or acts in a bad way? Was that said in the same breath as the pig comment? If that doesn’t fall under her definition of acting nasty, I’m really curious to find out what does. Pulling J-Lo’s hair? Maybe throwing champagne in her face? What else are divas known for? I’m sure J-Lo is one hell of a diva, but as far as I know she’s never said she’d rather hang with a barnyard animal than a fellow singer, all the while claiming she’s no diva. I have a policy of trying not to call people fat – but I will say that a LOT of other websites chide Mimi for the Rubenesque physique she’s always stuffing into tight, 1993 style dresses. Mentioning that you consider a pig a suitable singing partner is just setting yourself up for mockery.

Note by Celebitchy: Mariah Carey has denied ever having said this, and I tend to believe her. She said “This is just some Internet gossip and it’s pathetic that people actually entertain the thought that this could be real. This is another sad example of two strong women being pit against each other.”

She should have said “This is just some Internet rumor” and added that it was fabricated. Just because people gossip on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s not true, but the finer points of logic are lost on Mariah Carey. That’s why everyone was so willing to believe she said that she preferred a singing pig to a singing Jennifer Lopez.

The lovely and subtle Mariah Carey is shown on 12/31/07 at Tao Nightclub, thanks to PRPhotos. She looks like she’s so full of shit, but she’s also managed to keep herself together for a few years as JayBird mentioned and she’s really looking good I have to say.