Jennifer Lopez Says Her Children Encouraged Her to ‘Do Better’
Jennifer Lopez has gained a lot of wisdom throughout the years. She shared what she learned about her life and career. Here’s what J.Lo revealed about how her children encouraged her to do better.
Jennifer Lopez on aging
Lopez says her age doesn’t mean anything. She says she doesn’t feel like she’s aging; she just feels like herself. “I honestly feel the same way I did when I was 28 and put out my first record,” says Lopez during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I think it’s a mindset of continuing to realize that I’m still growing. So as long as I’m still growing, there’s still somewhere to go.”
Lopez says she realized life isn’t over just because she is getting older. “That’s what I realized; it’s not over,” says Lopez. She referred to turning 50 years old as her “half time.”
Jennifer Lopez says her children encouraged her to do better
Lopez says the birth of her children, Max and Emme, prompted her to change her approach to life and work. She says she was doing well in life, but she wanted to do better for them. For her, that meant adjusting the way she worked and taking time out for herself.
“I just decided that I was going to work in a way that I hadn’t before, and I was going to grow in a way that I hadn’t before,” she tells Winfrey. “Once you have kids, for me, what happened was I realized that I had to do better. I was doing OK, I was doing good, but I had to do better… You have to take care of yourself so you can take care of your kids.”
Jennifer Lopez finally accepts herself and ignores the haters
Lope also discussed her Super Bowl performance and how she had to block the naysayers. Not everyone was thrilled with Lopez’s Super Bowl performance. Some viewers felt her dancing was too sexy. However, Lopez says she didn’t focus on the negative attention because she was so grateful to have that big moment. She wouldn’t let the opinions of others ruin this great accomplishment.
“It didn’t bother me,” says Lopez. “It was such a beautiful night. And it was so well received. To listen to the small fraction of people who thought it was too sexy or trying to say something negative, it would have been a sin for me to concentrate on that.”
Lopez says she has reached a point in her life where other people’s opinions don’t affect the way she sees herself. She says this was a recent development for her. “Finally, yes,” says Lopez. “And it was recently. These are journeys that take a long time.”
Lopez says she had to learn to love herself and take care of herself. She realized you can’t take care of everyone else until you take care of your needs first. “You’re raised to think, ‘Oh, if I take care of everybody else, I’m a good person. I put myself last,’” says Lopez. “A lot of women, in my family, that’s how we were raised, especially Latinos,” Lopez continues. You come to the realization that it’s not [healthy]. I actually have to take care of myself, so I can take care of everybody else better.”
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