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" When headlines about Christina Aguilera&amp;#039;s separation from Jordan Bratman, her music-executive husband of five years, ricocheted around the world in mid-October, the news came as a true shock. Unlike so many Hollywood breakups of late, there were no whispers, no signs, no third parties stepping forward to share (or sell) a story. Over the summer, the couple, who have always appeared rock solid, and whose son, Max, turns 3 next month, had vacationed in Italy and been photographed cruising around Los Angeles in a shiny new red Ferrari. In our first interview for this story, which took place a few weeks before Christina filed for divorce, she focused on the positives in her life. First we talked about her big-screen debut in this month&amp;#039;s Burlesque. She stars as Ali, an Iowa farm girl who has pinned her dreams on making it in a fantasy version of Hollywood. Christina also, after some nudging, talked about her philanthropic work for the United Nations&amp;#039; World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger-relief organizations. In one year, she helped raise nearly $22 million, a record-setting sum that was enough to feed a staggering 90 million people. Last May, she was appointed a UN ambassador for the WFP.  But as she lounged on a black leather couch in a break room between recording sessions \u2014 dressed head to toe in black, lit up by a slash of red lipstick and long platinum hair \u2014 Christina seemed almost too focused on those projects. She was cheerful and chatty about work and life with Max, but quieter, more reflective, and taking longer pauses before answering questions about her marriage \u2014 and then speaking about Jordan only as a great father, not a partner. In prior interviews, she&amp;#039;d made a point of discussing their romantic, racy escapades (only two months ago, it was reported that she writes Jordan love notes in lipstick). But this time, she didn&amp;#039;t even mention him when talking about being a sexy mom. Instead, she alluded several times to some kind of emotional upheaval in her life, saying at one point that she was eager to get in the studio and &amp;quot;pour my heart out and be able to release anything I&amp;#039;m going through.&amp;quot; The day after the breakup news hit the wires, Christina got in touch again, this time to say how she was coping \u2014 and it was clear from her words that she&amp;#039;s at the beginning of a long, incredibly painful process. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not easy, and there have been a lot of tears and sadness,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s impossible to redefine yourself and your life overnight. Thankfully, I have my mom and a small group of close friends who are there for me 24/7 and whom I can trust and depend on. On days when it feels impossible to even get out of bed, much less function as a mother, their support and encouragement have kept me moving forward.&amp;quot; When asked about the details, rumors (of infidelity), and whether she and Jordan tried therapy to resolve their issues, she answered, &amp;quot;Out of respect for my husband, I prefer to keep the specifics private. Right now, I&amp;#039;m just trying to figure out how to make it through each day. Thankfully, I have Max to keep me on a sane path. His needs and happiness are my top priorities, and my biggest concern is to protect him and make him feel safe.&amp;quot; Christina&amp;#039;s close friend Nicole Richie is a key member of her support system. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s very clear through Christina&amp;#039;s music what a strong woman she is,&amp;quot; Nicole told REDBOOK. &amp;quot;But to watch her as a mother only skyrockets the respect I have for her. She is the woman who&amp;#039;s recording until 4 a.m. and up at 7 to be with her son. Her dedication to Max is incredible.&amp;quot;  Cher, her Burlesque costar, became a close confidante to the fledgling actress on-set, talking to her about life, love, and relationships. &amp;quot;The details of those conversations I will only discuss with Christina,&amp;quot; she told us. &amp;quot;But I enjoyed being around her a lot. She&amp;#039;s funny, but she&amp;#039;s also kind of shy and guarded. You have to earn her trust. She&amp;#039;s a great mom. She works hard at it. It&amp;#039;s not easy to put in 16-hour days and also be a good mother. It&amp;#039;s hard to feel like you&amp;#039;re doing any job well. But she did. And she showed great promise as an actor.&amp;quot; Back to the positives, then \u2014 Christina&amp;#039;s continuing (at times heart-wrenching) evolution as a woman and an artist, and the dichotomy of her life as a low-profile philanthropist and showstopping performer at the top of her game.  RB So, you&amp;#039;re finishing the Burlesque sound track today. How&amp;#039;d you get involved in this movie?  CA This whole idea transpired without my knowing. I did a show at the Viper Room with the Pussycat Dolls years ago, before it was a pop group. Clint Culpepper, who&amp;#039;s the president of Screen Gems, the company that produced the movie, and the director, Steven Antin, were in the audience that night. They turned to each other and said, &amp;quot;This is a movie!&amp;quot; They wanted to base a character on someone who brought a voice to burlesque, a real vocal performance. They went to work right away on a script. I didn&amp;#039;t say yes right away, though. At first, the character of Ali was really naive. For me to relate to her, she couldn&amp;#039;t be a pushover. She had to have passion and drive. So they rewrote the script to give it a little more bite, and that&amp;#039;s when I agreed to do it. RB What about your costar, Cher? Did you find that you had a lot in common?  CA Absolutely. It was quite the comfort to spend time with a woman who&amp;#039;s been there and done it all before anyone else. She&amp;#039;s a strong woman. The most successful people I&amp;#039;ve worked with, like the Rolling Stones \u2014 people of a different, kind of legendary caliber \u2014 have such great, warm energy. Cher was one of those people. She had stories for days. And, hello \u2014 Oscar winner! She gave me advice about how to get into character and connect with other actors. She&amp;#039;s not a bullshitter, either. She&amp;#039;s going to tell you the truth. That&amp;#039;s why it meant even more to get her compliments.  RB You really played against type in Burlesque, even from a fashion perspective.  CA Ali was a lot plainer than I like to be in my real life. It was hard for me to get used to wearing less makeup and simpler clothes. She had a wide-eyed approach. But she was nobody&amp;#039;s fool. RB How do your work and mom schedules match up?  CA My life is cyclical. First it&amp;#039;s album time, then it&amp;#039;s touring time. I go through phases, so we roll with the punches. I&amp;#039;m not a 9-to-5 woman who has the same kind of lifestyle for years on end. I couldn&amp;#039;t do it. I need the spontaneity, that thrill of change. That&amp;#039;s part of how I get inspired. You know, this is what the cards have in store for Max. We put it into his brain early on that he&amp;#039;s a traveling guy. He adapts well when we go from hotel to hotel.  RB You must sing him lullabies, right? CA My favorite song to sing to him at night is &amp;quot;Stay Awake&amp;quot; from Mary Poppins. And we make up songs together. I&amp;#039;ll start a song about tigers or space men, and he&amp;#039;ll help me finish it. I&amp;#039;ll say, &amp;quot;And he likes to play with...,&amp;quot; and he&amp;#039;ll say &amp;quot;CARS!&amp;quot; RB You&amp;#039;re teaching him how to write songs! CA You&amp;#039;re right. He&amp;#039;s already a songwriter.  NEXT: Christina on the hardest thing about being a mom, and her sexy, edgy public image...  RB What&amp;#039;s been most difficult about being a mom? CA I&amp;#039;ve had to learn a lot of extra patience. He was just in his terrible twos, pushing the boundaries, seeing what he could get away with. Now he&amp;#039;s entering my favorite stage. He&amp;#039;s so expressive. He&amp;#039;s very into giving me kisses and kissing my boo-boos. Today he was fascinated by a hole in my lip from one of my old piercings, back from my &amp;quot;Dirrty&amp;quot; days: &amp;quot;Look at your little hole, Mommy. What is that?&amp;quot; And I said, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just a little hole.&amp;quot; And he asked, &amp;quot;Will it go away?&amp;quot; I told him no, I didn&amp;#039;t think it would. And that&amp;#039;s all he needs to know right now. [Laughs] That&amp;#039;s the age-appropriate answer!  RB Is it hard to maintain a sexy, edgy public image once you become a parent? CA For me it&amp;#039;s not. They&amp;#039;re two completely different hats that I wear. When I put my son down to sleep, I say, &amp;quot;Sweet dreams. Mommy loves you.&amp;quot; Then I can go out to my studio in the backyard and sing, &amp;quot;If you don&amp;#039;t like it, f--- you.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s another expression of myself. I make an effort to make sure that all parts of me are fulfilled as a woman. I&amp;#039;m not just a mother. I&amp;#039;m not just an entertainer. I do have a sensual side, and I never want any part of me to die. My son should grow up seeing his mommy follow her heart and do what she thinks is right and express herself as an artist. I want him to appreciate women for being strong. I think that will help him respect women. RB You&amp;#039;re a UN ambassador for its World Food Programme. But many people don&amp;#039;t even know about your work for hunger relief. CA I&amp;#039;m really proud of the money we&amp;#039;ve raised, but I like the work to speak for itself. When I heard the statistics, that there are a billion hungry people in the world \u2014 mostly women and their children \u2014 and that a child dies from starvation every six seconds, as a mother, I couldn&amp;#039;t say no. I&amp;#039;ve always wanted to give back, try to spread some good with what I do. PHOTO GALLERY: READ ABOUT CHRISTINA&amp;#039;S LATEST MISSIONS (IN HER OWN WORDS AND HANDWRITING!) RB It&amp;#039;s in the holiday spirit. What are the holidays like at your house?  CA Cozy, cozy, cozy! I&amp;#039;m really into the old-fashioned Santa Claus stuff, snuggling up to watch holiday movies, decorating the tree. In my house, I have four, maybe five Christmas trees. I&amp;#039;m a decorating nut around the holidays. I&amp;#039;m into scrapbooking and label makers. I&amp;#039;m definitely that girl.  RB Where do you want to be 10 years from now? CA Hopefully I&amp;#039;ll have done another film, have a few more albums under my belt, and have another child. My son inspired my last record, Bionic. It was playful, inspired by electronica, about the future. Now I&amp;#039;m almost 30. Things are headed in a softer direction for me. I&amp;#039;m in a very introspective time in my life, and I want to put that on a record: where I&amp;#039;ve been, where I&amp;#039;m going. I have a lot more to say. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/interviews/a6759/christina-aguilera-news-interview/>