Hewitt unable to talk to ghosts

HEWITT UNABLE TO
TALK TO GHOSTS

Release Date:

September 28, 2007

Press Release:

Sun Media of Canada

by Bill Harris

Jennifer Love Hewitt is living a double life. Really, she is.

Was your mind going elsewhere? Anyway, Hewitt claims she regularly is approached by people who confuse her with Melinda Gordon, the character she plays on Ghost Whisperer.

"All the time. I'm constantly having people ask me to cross over people, or stopping me and saying, 'Would you just tell my grandmother blah, blah, blah,' " said Hewitt, who will be front and centre this evening as the third season of Ghost Whisperer gets under way (CTV/CBS). "I get people who see me across the room and are motioning at me, and I'm like, 'No, there's no one else around you.' And I have to explain to them how I'm so not this person."

Melinda, of course, communicates with ghosts. Hewitt, as far as we know, does not. That said, the 28-year-old Hewitt admits her mind is more open to otherworldly possibilities than it was when Ghost Whisperer hit the airwaves in 2005. "It's hard to do my job every day and not believe in ghosts," Hewitt said. "I don't know if I believe in some of the ones Melinda has run into, the ones that are scary and bloody and in my face. But I definitely do believe in the energy and the power of the people who were here before us, and that they don't necessarily just pass away and go off so easily. I think some of them stick around."

Speaking of sticking around, Ghost Whisperer has stuck around far longer than many critics would have imagined. It's easy to take shots at the tear-jerky, melodramatic and repetitive nature of the series. And it obviously is easy to take shots at Hewitt, who arguably is as well known for her ample chest as for her acting abilities. But when you consider how many TV shows fail after only one season -- or less -- Hewitt obviously is having the last laugh. "Melinda really gives people a chance every single week to go back in time and say something that they didn't get a chance to say," Hewitt said. "And that's a universal thing. "Whether you believe in ghosts or not, everybody wants that opportunity. Even if you broke up with somebody in junior high school and just wanted to go back and say you were sorry, Melinda gets to do that every week. So I think that makes it special."

Then again, maybe there simply are a lot of TV viewers out there who believe in ghosts. "I think more than we know," said Hewitt, who then looked over the shoulder of the person who was interviewing her.

"By the way," she added, "your uncle says hello."