In a file photo Christina Aguilera appears on MTV's "Total Request Live", Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at MTV studios in New York's Times Square. Aguilera says she's toned down the sexuality on her new double-disc album, "Back to Basics," but has no regrets about the sultry image she's projected in the past. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)
Christina Aguilera says she's toned down the sexuality on her new double-disc album, "Back to Basics," but has no regrets about the sultry image she's projected in the past.
"The sexuality coming forward on this record is more softened," she says in the July 24 issue of Newsweek. "It's more pin-up, tongue-in-cheek. It's playful. People take sex far too seriously."
Aguilera said she was proud of the image she projected on her last album, "Stripped," in part because it elicited strong opinions.
"If you liked it, you wanted to root for me 'Look, she's empowered.' If not, well, you'd stick all those labels on me."
Aguilera also told the magazine there was never a feud between her and a fellow ex-Mousketeer, Britney Spears.
We were like best friends, but the media saw a navel and blond hair and had to create some drama," she said.
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Carol Burnett Honored by TV Critics
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Actress-comedian Carol Burnett, whose long-running variety show became a TV classic, received a career achievement award from the Television Critics Association.
"Does this mean I'll never get another bad review?" Burnett joked Sunday as she accepted the honor.
Burnett went on to recount how "The Carol Burnett Show," which aired from 1967-78, got started. A pay-or-play clause in her contract with CBS for 30 hourlong variety shows was about to run out and she decided to exercise it.
The network, she said, wasn't thrilled. A CBS executive told her that variety was the proper domain of male stars like Jackie Gleason, Sid Caesar and Milton Berle and suggested she consider a proposed sitcom titled "Here's Agnes," Burnett said.
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Miss Puerto Rico Crowned Miss Universe
Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Miss Puerto Rico 2006, is congratulated by fellow contestants after winning the Miss Universe 2006 pageant on Sunday, July 23, 2006, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Benjamin Sklar)
An 18-year-old from Puerto Rico who hopes to someday star in U.S. and Latin American films was crowned Sunday night as Miss Universe 2006.
Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza shared a nervous emotional hug with first runner-up, Kurara Chibana of Japan, moments before the winner was announced, then clasped her hands to her mouth in amazement as her name was called.
She beamed as the crown was placed on her head but briefly fainted after a post-pageant news conference. She quickly recovered after being given liquids, said Miss Universe spokeswoman Esther Swan.
Rivera, who was wearing a dress made entirely of metal chains, had been standing under hot stage lights for some time when she began to topple over. Someone caught her as she fell.
"I always had faith and confidence in myself, but I never knew I was going to win," Rivera, speaking in Spanish from the stage, said in her first remarks as Miss Universe.
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