Shape Editor Backtracks: I "Stand By" LeAnn Rimes Cover

USMagazine, Friday, October 29, 2010, 9:09am (PDT)

Shape editor-in-chief Valerie Latona is on Team LeAnn after all.

On Thursday, in an email obtained by TooFab, Latona apologized for putting LeAnn Rimes on the cover of its October issue, saying it was a "terrible mistake."

Backtracking, Latona told USA Today on Friday: "My comments have been taken out of context. I used the words of the few unhappy readers who wrote in.

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In the controversial interview with Shape, Rimes talked bluntly about her affair with Eddie Cibrian, which ended both her marriage to Dean Sheremet and his union with model Brandi Glanville. ("Putting her on the cover was not meant to put a husband-stealer on a pedestal," Latona's original email said.)

"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," Latona told USA Today Friday.

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"The fact is a mere 40 readers out of almost 6 million readers wrote in to complain calling LeAnn a 'husband stealer' and a 'terrible mistake for Shape'," the editor continued.

"I wrote to those women apologizing that our cover choice did not make them happy--as I have done for other cover stars in the past."

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Tell Us: Do you agree with the Shape editor?

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