LeAnn Rimes: Magazine cover controversy costs editor her job

The US fitness magazine’s editor-in-chief Valerie Latona will be replaced on Friday by Tara Kraft, who has been the beauty and fashion director of US gossip magazine, Star, for the past eight years, according to the New York Post.

Last month, Latona reportedly sent an email to about 40 readers who had complained about Rimes being featured on the cover of the October issue.

The 28-year-old country singer sparked controversy last year after she left her husband of seven years to date actor Eddie Cibrian, who was married with two children.

In her email, Latona reportedly wrote: 'Please know that our putting her [Rimes] on the cover was not meant to put a husband-stealer on a pedestal, but to show [through her story] how we are all human…”

After hearing about Latona’s email, Rimes fired back on her Twitter page: 'Wow, that's really funny since they are throwing me a party in LA next week to celebrate this being the third time I've been on their cover.

'Just so all my fans know, I'm getting to the bottom of this. It's the first I've heard of this… I find this very contradictory.'

Latona has since said that her comments were taken out of context and that she stood by her original decision to have Rimes on the cover.

She released a statement saying: 'I don't want anyone to be unhappy, so I took the time to write a personal note to them, apologising for not having someone on the cover they wanted to see and hoping to do right by them the next time.

'The bottom line is this: 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.'