Marc Anthony was on the Meredith Vieira show Tuesday. From the clips I’ve seen, he was pretty funny and charismatic. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but I don’t pay much attention to him and he often comes across as Jennifer Lopez’s surly ex. Anthony, 46, recently remarried, to a now 27 year-old Venezuelan model named Shannon de Lima. Meredith asked him, in a roundabout way, how he landed a hot woman like that. I’m sure the question was pre-approved because he then launched into a self deprecating story about how his dad told him to work on his personality, since he was lacking in the looks department. (He said that, not me.)

Marc also talked about his ex, Jennifer Lopez, and their relationship. It sounds like they’re successfully co-parenting. While he was praising Jennifer, Marc kind of confirmed that Jennifer is still dating Casper Smart. At least she’s keeping it under cover this go-round. Here’s some of what he said:

On how he landed Shannon de Lima
I’m just great at marketing. I was born with this mug piece and skinny and stuttering and somehow…

His dad told him he was ugly
My dad told me early on, he said ‘son, we’re both ugly.’ He says it to this day. He goes ‘You work on your personality. It builds character.’

On if that hurt his feelings
Absolutely not, because I was born looking at his face and he was right.

On if he’s read Jennifer’s book
I read many iterations of it along the way. We’re close that way and we trust each other. I was proud of her. I know what it takes and I know her very well.

On why he thinks his relationship ended
I don’t talk about it much as a whole. I just think that’s private… I’m not sure I ever will [talk about it]. I don’t think it’s for public consumption.

On if he feels strange about Jennifer’s book being out there
It’s not my book, but I was really proud of her. I know what it took for her to open up like that.

On what his kids know about the divorce
This has been their reality since they’re very young so it’s very normal… It’s very natural for Jennifer to come over the house with Casper… It’s always been that way, or Shannon and I to go over her house.

I didn’t read Jennifer Lopez’s book, True Love, so I’m not able to directly comment on how she addressed the end of her marriage to Marc. Many reviewers on Amazon said that she didn’t dish any details whatsoever and that the book was full of vague platitudes and hokey bits of wisdom. The top rated reviewer, who chose to remain anonymous, wrote this “[Lopez] makes vague statements about not respecting herself, and vague references to verbal and emotional (possibly physical?) abuse, but doesn’t say much beyond that. I don’t want to read a blow-by-blow about her relationships, but she is so vague about everything in her life that you are left wondering what the book is about.” So when Marc says that he read “many iterations” of the book, I take it to mean that she sent it to him for approval several times, maybe because she legally had to as part of their divorce agreement. We heard last year, prior to the book coming out, that Jennifer wrote that she’s felt abused, but she didn’t get into any details whatsoever and she didn’t even name Marc as her abuser. She wrote that she’s “never gotten a black eye or a busted lip, but I’ve felt abused in one way or another: mentally, emotionally, verbally.”

In terms of Anthony making fun of himself for being “ugly,” he’s not a conventionally attractive man, that’s true, and I know he’s nicknamed skeletor and all but I don’t think he’s that bad looking. He’s just a small dude and he looks normal to me. He could be considered “ugly hot,” which is a term usually reserved for skinny men who don’t look like models and who have attitudes. Also, money and fame help considerably.

Anthony is promoting his foundation Maestro Cares, which builds facilities for homeless children and orphans in Latin America. He got choked up talking about it, I was really touched. You can see the video of him discussing that here. He said “to see 48 kids in a 3 bedroom house, it was too much. I knew I could do something about it, and I did.” To replace that facility they built a 5 acre compound with a clinic, classroom, and 100 beds. He said they’re now about to build their seventh orphanage in two years.

Here’s Marc talking about co-parenting with Jennifer:

photo credit: WENN.com