Shape Magazine Apologizes for LeAnn Rimes Cover

by Liz Colville

Oooooops. Shape apparently received flak for putting LeAnn Rimes, who recently contributed to the demise of two marriages by having an affair with Eddie Cibrian, on its October cover. Rimes’s cover was accompanied by a story about how working out “saved” her. Rimes is shacked up with Cibrian and their kids now, which perhaps lessens the blow, but Shape editor-in-chief Valerie Latona felt she had to address the fact that the magazine appeared to be endorsing “husband-stealers” by spotlighting/airbrushing Rimes’s existence/bod. Latona wrote in e-mail to the offended subscribers obtained by TooFab.com:

You are all in good company… as you all agree Shape has made a terrible mistake in putting LeAnn Rimes on the cover … Please know that our putting her on the cover was not meant to put a husband-stealer on a pedestal — but to show (through her story) how we all are human. And this woman in particular found strength in exercise in what she said was her most difficult personal moment.

But if the criteria for the cover was “famous people who find strength in exercise,” surely that’s…anyone? Has anyone had an experience where exercise has made you weaker? Sorry.

UPDATE: Latona spoke out today saying her e-mail was “taken out of context” and that she “used the words of the few unhappy readers who wrote in.” Could’ve used quotes! She adds, “I stand by the fact that LeAnn’s story is compelling — and her courage and strength in the face of so much adversity is compelling. That is why I put her on the cover of Shape for what is now the third time.” Also, apparently only 40 subscribers complained. Out of six million.