She seems to have been around for ever - and indeed she started her career young, at the tender age of 10 - so finding out that Jennifer Love Hewitt is still only 32 comes as a bit of a surprise.
As does the news that the once promising star of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Party of Five and Ghost Whisperer most recently made headlines last week, for propositioning - via Twitter - Ben Flajnik, a US winemaker who appeared in the recent series of US reality TV show, The Bachelorette.
With a string of failed relationships under her belt, and nothing more than bit parts in Hot in Cleveland and Law & Order: SVU on her recent CV, the actress once touted as the next big thing, who topped all the ‘sexiest women' lists, is no longer the must-cast star she once was.
e+ looks at what went wrong…
Reality TV star knockback
Apparently hooked on the recent 15th season of US reality dating TV show, The Bachelorette, when contestant Ben Flajnik was voted off the show, Jennifer immediately tweeted, "Omg! Ben f except my final rose !!! I love that ring. Neil lane u rock!! Happy for Ashley.... Gotta book a flight to Sonoma !!!:):)" And just a few days later, the actress flew to San Francisco - near Ben's hometown of Sonoma - and headed to a bar he frequently hun out at.
"She began pursuing him right after the finale aired," spilled a source. Adding of the night Jennifer found him in the bar, "It seemed like a first date, but he wasn't overly affectionate. As the bar started to close she grabbed his hand and marched outside." But despite the next day tweeting, "Morning lovelys! I got lost in the most amazing sat! Just when you think u can't be surprised.... You are and it's awesome" - Ben hit back, tweeting, "Dear Rumor Mill, I am not dating anyone. Far too busy with work right now @evolvewines to even think about it."
The ‘Size 2' debacle
Long renowned for her curvy figure (with ex-boyfriend, John Mayer penning his hit, Your Body is a Wonderland about her), Jennifer did herself no favours when, after she was papped on the beach in Hawaii a few years ago looking a lot heavier than usual, she hit back by claiming that her obviously US size 6-8 (UK 8-10) figure, was in fact a tiny US size 2 (UK 4).
"To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image. A size 2 is not fat! Nor will it ever be," she stormed in a statement. But Jen confused her fans, when she followed up her ‘body acceptance' declaration by posing for a magazine cover a few weeks later, in which she claimed she'd lost 8kg.
And her denials lead to the actress being ridiculed in the press and a gossip item that circulated T-town, which read, ‘Which starlet's team insists that size 6 tags be cut out of her dresses by designer and a size 2 tag sewn in its place to preserve her vanity and prevent a body image meltdown?'
Her love disasters
Jennifer once had her pick of high-profile men, and dated the likes of Carson Daly, John Mayer and Joey Lawrence, with LFO frontman, Rich Cronin, writing the band's hit single Girl on TV for her. But her recent love choices have seen the actress labelled as ‘clingy' and ‘insecure' by US tabloids.
Becoming engaged to her Ghost Whisperer co-star, Ross McCall in 2007 after two years of dating, the pair broke it off in early 2009, with Us Weekly reporting that Ross felt "smothered" by her constant phone calls in which she demanded of him, "I want to hear you say you love me". Just months later, JLH started dating another Ghost Whisperer co-star, Jamie Kennedy, a relationship which ended in March 2010 - and just one month later, Jennifer was spotted out on a string of dates with Jenny McCarthy's ex-husband, John Asher.
"He showers her with attention and is helping her move on from her break-up with Jamie," spilled a source at the time.
