LeAnn Rimes may have gotten her pound of flesh in the Shape magazine controversy that has swirled for the past week. Then again, she really may have been too sick to attend the celebratory party that was thrown in her honor by the publication editor Valerie Latona.
Who could blame Rimes if she decided to skip the party after what transpired three weeks after the October issue hit newsstands?
The brouhaha started when it became public knowledge that editor Latona sent a controversial e-mail dissing LeAnn to disgruntled Shape subscribers, acknowledging that it was a big mistake to put LeAnn on the cover.
Not long after that hot news broke across the blogosphere, Rimes ‘tweeted’ that she had heard nothing about this turn of events, and was shocked because Shape was in fact throwing her a huge party to celebrate her third cover.
A beleagured Latona tried to make nice with her cover girl, admitting in a statement that only 45 of their 2 million plus subscribers were unhappy, and she was merely offering an apology to those who were offended.
Imagine her surprise when Rimes called on the morning of the party to notify the magazine that she would be unable to attend the event because she had the flu. After a great deal of scrambling, they were able to call upon the January 2011 cover girl Brooke Burke to fill in as host at Trousdale nightclub in L.A.
Rimes and her boyfriend Eddie Cibrian have been otherwise occupied, sitting down for an in-depth video interview with GMA co-host Robin Roberts.
They also pulled a Halloween stunt that backfired, leaving their fans with the impression that the couple had become engaged. Now they are busy beating down those rumors.
More photos below: