Rapper Lupe Fiasco has laughed off rumours he struck up a romance with Jessica Biel after the pair climbed Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this month. Fiasco was linked to the actress, the girlfriend of pop star Justin Timberlake, after the charity trek to the top of the Tanzanian peak. But while he counts Biel as a close friend, he is adamant their relationship is strictly platonic. He tells MTV.com, “She’s a very lovely person. I do consider her a friend. She’s very dope (cool), (a) very capable young woman. Very smart. But we are not dating or romantically intertwined in any way. But she’s good peoples (sic). “It is what it is. Nobody really called me on it. I’ve seen it out in the world. But nah, she’s good peoples. She definitely surprised me as far as how good and honest of a person she is. I do rock with her.”

Jessica Biel is considering reinventing herself as a Hollywood bad girl – because she fears her good girl reputation is costing her movie roles. The actress prefers a quiet life with boyfriend Justin Timberlake to nights on the Tinseltown party scene, but she’s beginning to worry a lack of tabloid attention is holding her back. Biel tells Vogue magazine, “I might just be way too boring to ever be a really great actress.” When Vogue’s interviewer suggests great stars “kick up dust everywhere”, the actress hints she might consider an image makeover. Biel replies, “I don’t do that. Maybe I should do a little bit more of that. A dust kicker-upper might be kind of fun.” But the last time she dabbled with a racier image, she landed in big trouble with her parents. The actress was only a minor when she appeared topless for Gear magazine. She hoped the saucy spread would force TV bosses to release her from her contract on TV show 7th Heaven, and leave her free to accept movie offers and consider a stint at college. But the move backfired and her family and friends were appalled by the revealing snaps. She explains, “It was terribly embarrassing. I had to apologise to everybody, including my parents. It was a big learning experience – learning how to have boundaries and how to say no.”

Jessica Biel thinks she is “too boring” to be a great actress. The Illusionist star – who is dogged by rumours that her relationship with Justin Timberlake is in trouble – believes she is too grounded and leads too much of a normal life for people to have a high professional opinion of her. She said: “I might just be way too boring to ever be a really great actress.” When told great actresses can having boring lives but great stars “kick up dust everywhere”, the actress told Vogue magazine: “I don’t do that. Maybe I should do a little bit more of that. A dust kicker-upper might be kind of fun.” Jessica also spoke out about posing near-naked for Gear magazine aged just 17, admitting she was “terribly embarrassed” about the pictures and her parents’ outrage. She said: “I really wanted to go to college, and it all kind of happened at the same time. I did this photo shoot; the photo shoot came out; it was terribly embarrassing. I had to apologize to everybody, including my parents. It was a big learning experience: learning how to have boundaries and how to say no.” As a result of her experiences as a child actress, Jessica, now 27, says she feels motherly towards other young stars. She said: “I have this overwhelming motherly feeling toward them. Just do what you gotta do, girls! Hold it together! I wish everyone would just leave them alone.”

Jessica Biel hates wearing makeup. The Easy Virtue actress says she doesn’t like getting glammed up for red carpet events. “When I see myself in pictures with makeup on, even to this day, I think it looks weird,” Biel tells February issue of Vogue. “My eyes get squintier and smaller.” Jessica – who appears alongside an all star cast in the upcoming movie Valentine’s Day – says she’s “playing a character” every time she’s photographed on the red carpet. “As soon as I get off that thing I think, ‘Oof, wipe that gloss off,’” she admits. “I’m wiping and wiping and pulling my hair out and trying to change my outfit. I’m immediately trying to get comfortable. It’s really a part I play.”

Jessica Biel says the hardest part of shooting her role in the upcoming A-Team movie was heaving about her weapons. The actress hated having to carry around her “heavy” machine gun. “We did a lot of training,” explains Jessica. “The physical training was okay but the weapons training was hard. “I have to shoot this M4 machine gun and it’s heavy. You have to carry that and you have all this ammo hanging around your neck. It’s tough.”

Jessica Biel says it’s “weird” that people scrutinize her relationship with Justin Timberlake. The actress says she hates that her love life is constantly in the media spotlight. “It’s definitely been weird and sort of bizarre to deal with,” she said. “But you have to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Honestly, I look at a magazine and they know more than I do. “You do really have to just get into a place where you feel Zen about it — take a deep breath and know that somebody is going to be taking your picture while you’re going to the laundry and picking up your dry-cleaning.” “Doing any kind of family entertainment comes as a huge relief from making something like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was probably one of the hardest experiences for me, emotionally and creatively,” Biel said of her role in the new animated movie Planet 51. “It was intense because I was at this high level of freak-out, for about a month. It was just so not this world. That kind of emotional strain was so different. “Planet 51 was just fun. I wanted to do it because it was speaking to my inner child. Yes, I want to be an alien. Yes, I want to be green!”

Jessica Biel says she “definitely” believes that there’s life on other plants. The actress — who lends her voice to an extra-terrestrial being in new animated movie Planet 51 — insists she isn’t against the idea of aliens. “I definitely believe in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets,” she said. “There’s just so much space out there not to believe in that. For me, the idea with this movie is to be open to change. “You should be accepting of change because, only through change, can you grow and learn more about yourself, as a human or alien.”

Jessica Biel says she had a “bad attitude” during her teenage years. The actress — who stars in the new animated kids’ movie Planet 51 – has admitted she was a troublesome teen. “When I was 16, I was pushing it on every angle with my parents, with the world,” she said. “I thought I had it going on. I thought I knew everything. I had a little bit more of a bad attitude as a 16-year-old.”