Jennifer Lopez's provocative behavior is raising eyebrows in the Hollywood cruel crowd… but I know her well enough to spill the truth: ROB SHUTER

Jennifer Lopez's breasts are having a very busy summer.

There they were again last week practically escaping from a tiny sports bra as JLo headed to a workout in Santa Monica, looking sensational at 57.

Photographers just happened to be standing nearby. What incredible luck, it would seem to some, except I know JLo in a way most journalists writing about her do not.

I used to work for her.

As Jennifer's publicist during the original Bennifer breakup in 2004, I wrote the statement announcing the end of her first engagement to Ben Affleck. I saw how she handles her enormous fame, deep personal heartbreak and the demands of a ravenous celebrity press. Jennifer is one of the most media-savvy celebrities I have ever known.

'Jennifer understands the celebrity machine better than almost anyone,' a Hollywood manager told me the first day I started working with her. 'And she knows her body is one of the most powerful assets of the JLo brand.'

Witness Jennifer's recent Italian road trip with her 18-year-old twins, Max and Oskar (who was born Emme), her two children with ex-husband Marc Anthony.

Notice her Instagram reel: there she is walking the ancient streets with Oskar in a tight-fitting corset dress; in a rooftop selfie with the lateral curve of her chest visible; on an evening gondola ride in a plunging gown reminiscent of that other dangerously deep-cut Versace dress.

'Road tripping with my coconuts before they head off to college,' she wrote in the caption.

I'm sorry, which coconuts?

Apparently, she meant the children.

After three decades of Jennifer's cleavage playing one of her most dependable supporting characters, even I needed clarification.

It would be easy to dismiss all this as vanity, but that would completely miss what makes Jennifer so fascinating.

She is taking back the narrative.

For years, the biggest JLo story was Bennifer. Romance to reunion. Reconstructed to deconstructed.

'After Ben, she wanted the story to become JLo again — sexy, successful, independent and completely in control,' a friend of the superstar tells me. Nothing, in my opinion, demonstrates her control more effectively than her body. It communicates that she is not hiding, not sitting home crying. She's hot, booked and getting paid. Very well paid.

The Daily Mail reported last week that she's signed on as the new face of Dolce & Gabbana in a reported $20 million deal. On top of that, Jennifer is planning an international tour next year in addition to two new movies: The JLo show about her recent Las Vegas residency and a crime thriller, The Last Mrs Parrish.

Jennifer appears determined to remind everybody that her machine remains well-oiled. Though, I'll add one note of concern.

She has previously spoken about reaching a breaking point after pushing herself too hard and barely sleeping. More than two decades later, I wonder why the woman who has mastered almost everything has not grasped the one thing that she might need the most: letting go.

'She doesn't know how to stop,' an insider close to Lopez tells me. 'When Jennifer is happy, she works. When she's unhappy, she works even harder. Work is where she feels safe because work is something she can control.'

Unfortunately, there are some things outside of JLo's influence. Divorce isn't controllable. Children leaving for college isn't controllable. Aging certainly isn't controllable.

A movie promotion is. A tour is. And so is the image you present to the world.

These photographs aren't really about flesh. They're about Jennifer reminding the world, and perhaps herself, that she remains in charge. But Jennifer doesn't need to produce another hit, find another husband, ink another multimillion-dollar contract or strain the stitches of another sports bra to prove anything.

At 57, perhaps the most radical thing Jennifer Lopez could show us isn't her body.

Trust me, Jennifer: we noticed.

Kept men

Here's some free self-help advice for Benny Blanco and Jim Curtis: Sell your own damn books!

Selena Gomez is hitting the road with husband Benny to promote his Fck Failure*, while Jennifer Aniston took the stage at New York's 92nd Street Y last week to interview boyfriend Jim about his self-improvement guide, The Book of Possibility.

'[Gomez and Aniston's] fame sells tickets and moves books. Jen and Selena aren't supporting the campaign, they are the campaign,' a veteran celebrity publicist tells me.

I'd be careful if I were you, ladies. I've watched what happens when romantic relationships turned into business partnerships, while working with Jessica Simpson during her marriage to Nick Lachey.

Things can get awkward quickly when the main character (in these cases, the authors) aren't really the stars of the show.

'Would those rooms be full without Selena or Jennifer?' a publishing insider asks. 'If not, you're selling access to her, not his book.'

Support your partner. Celebrate them. But don't become their marketing department.

Gentlemen, help yourselves.

Wrong direction

I'm hearing concerns over Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter North, after the 13-year-old posted a heavily filtered video of herself on the TikTok account she shares with her mother.

Nearly unrecognizable in a blue wig, goth makeup, blackened teeth and an unnaturally straight nose, fans are worried that she's growing up much too fast.

In February, North was pulled from a traditional private school in favor of home schooling and an education that reportedly focuses on her creative hobbies.

'Kim felt that homeschooling would allow her to focus on academics while giving her room to explore fashion, music and entrepreneurship in a more hands-on way,' a source told People.

That sounds wonderfully progressive, until those 'interests' start looking suspiciously like a career.

Frankly, this child cannot have it easy. She was born into extraordinary privilege, yes, but also extraordinary scrutiny.

'Childhood shouldn't become an apprenticeship for celebrity,' a Hollywood insider tells me. 'She has the rest of her life to build brands. She only gets to be 13 once.'

Kim and Kanye must understand better than anyone how quickly fame becomes a full-time job and how destructive that pressure can become.

'We worry about how much North is carrying at such a young age,' another family friend tells me. 'When you combine enormous fame, complicated parents and a childhood playing out publicly, you worry about where all that pressure eventually goes.'

The boardroom can wait.

Childhood won't.