As an actress, singer, businesswoman and all-around icon, Jennifer Lopez seems like she has it all. But juggling her career and motherhood isn't always easy.
In WSJ. Magazine's November Innovator Issue, the 51-year-old superstar recalled an honest conversation she had with her 12-year-old twins, Max and Emme Muñiz, about their lives. The topic came up after Lopez, who was recently named the publication's 2020 Pop Culture Innovator, was asked about what she's learned in quarantine.
"I actually loved being home and having dinner with the kids every night, which I hadn't done in probably—ever," she replied. "And the kids kind of expressed to me, like, the parts that they were fine with about our lives and the parts they weren't fine with."
Lopez called the conversation "a real eye-opener and a reassessment" of "what was working and what wasn't working."
"You thought you were doing OK, but you're rushing around and you're working and they're going to school and we're all on our devices," she continued. "We're providing this awesome life for them, but at the same time, they need us. They need us in a different way. We have to slow down and we have to connect more. And, you know, I don't want to miss things. And I realized, 'God. I would have missed that if I wasn't here today.'"
After all, the Hustlers alum knows her kids won't be children forever. "I feel like everybody aged, like, three years during this pandemic," she added. "I watched them go from kind of young and naive to really, like, grown-ups to me now. When did this happen? They're not our babies anymore. They've been given a dose of the real world, with the knowledge that things can be taken away from you and life is going to happen no matter what. They had to grow up….So did we."
Lopez has certainly been busy. In the piece, she talked about her latest projects, which include her upcoming movie Marry Me, a new line of cosmetics called JLo Beauty and a portfolio full of investments. She also teamed up with her fiancé Alex Rodriguez to launch the health and wellness brand Hims & Hers. And while Lopez is a business mogul in her own right, she also said she and the former baseball pro realized they "could help each other really grow to another level" after they started dating three years ago.
"I think where we're twin souls, or whatever term you want to use, is in the way that there are no limits. That we're limitless," she said. "That's my thing, but he helped me realize how true that is. We can do anything. We both have that DNA—like, why not? Why can't we build not one multibillion-dollar business, but three or four? Why can't we own the Mets?"
But no matter how busy Lopez gets, family clearly comes first. Her son Max even made a cameo during the interview. He came into the room with an electronic device and J.Lo kindly told him she couldn't hear the interviewer.
"The twins are 12 now. It's crazy. I've got to get them off those electronics for the rest of the day," she said about a battle many parents know all too well. "I let them have them in the morning on the weekends but then I've gotta snatch 'em."
The November issue of WSJ. Magazine hits newsstands Saturday, Nov. 21.