Christina Aguilera: “It’s a strain, but I love taking my kids on tour!”
The US singer opens up about life on the road with her two children – and discusses those split rumours about her fiancé Matthew Rutler With Matthew
She announced her S engagement to musician Matthew Rutler in 2014, but despite not setting a wedding date as yet, Christina Aguilera insists she’s still determined to walk up the aisle with him.
The 37-year-old pop star – who split from first husband Jordan Bratman in 2010 – has sparked rumours of a split with Matthew in the past, after being spotted on numerous occasions without her engagement ring.
But Christina – who took a break from music after releasing her seventh album Lotus in 2012 and is set to make a big return to the spotlight with her eighth album Liberation – says, “I am engaged! I just suck at wearing my ring. I don’t know why I’m so weird. I guess it’s from being on stage a lot. Things fly off all of the time, so I’m like, ‘I am not losing this one!’ I’m one of those people who can’t keep jewellery on. As soon as I’m off stage and it’s time to go home, I’m in sweatpants, the hair is up, face washed and I’m not fussing with nothing!”
GREAT CHEMISTRY
She adds, “We’re working on a wedding date. I first met Matthew on a film set back in 2010 and we just had this really great chemistry together.”
No doubt a wedding would be tough for the star – who is mum to ten-year old son Max with ex-husband Jordan, and four-year-old daughter Summer Rain with Matthew – to plan as she’s currently on tour with her latest album.
Opening up about touring as a mum of two, Christina says, “Being on the road with my kids is definitely more of a mental strain and pressure. You’re always just making sure they’re OK and content and happy. My daughter actually loves the tour bus. The way the bus is set up, you have bunks, and she has her own space with twinkly lights. She likes to make forts, too. It’s so cute and I just love having my kids with me.”
She adds, “When I have a day off, my favourite thing to do is to pop in a Disney movie. Or the tour dancers and I go to the shop Target [a chain of discount stores in the States] and pick up colouring books for my daughter and DVDS to keep her entertained.”
CONTROVERSY
After finding fame at just 13 years old on The Mickey Mouse Club TV show, with co-stars including Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Christina launched her singing career in 1999 and has enjoyed almost two decades in the music industry, selling over 75 million records. But her career has also been the subject of much controversy, especially in 2002, when she shed her wholesome image for her risqué single Dirrty – which saw the singer strip down to leather chaps and dance provocatively for the music video.
At the time, parents called for the song to be banned, and comedian Tina Fey even publicly joked that she caught an STD just watching the video.
But the star – whose Dirrty look was famously recreated by Kylie Jenner, 21, for Halloween in 2016 – says she has no regrets and even brings the famous chaps out on her new tour.
She says, “There’s a 2018 version of the chaps in my new tour! There were a few of them. I loved that Kylie Jenner dressed up as me for Halloween – it was so adorable!”
BORN PERFORMER
And despite the battle of juggling motherhood with her career, Christina insists there’s nothing else in this life that she’d rather be doing.
She says, “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, this is honestly what I was born to do on this Earth. Singing is in my blood and it’s been in my soul since I was in diapers. It’s all I have ever known. Even now, when I take a break from it, it feels like something is missing. It’s something I need to do.”
‘Kylie was adorable dressed up as me for Halloween’