Jennifer Lopez is soaking up the final months before her twins take off for their next big chapter. With Max and Emme, her 17-year-old twins with ex-husband Marc Anthony, now interested in college tours, the singer and actress is navigating this transitional moment with both pride and nostalgia.
“They’re leaving, they’re going, and it’s crazy,” she said on Live with Kelly and Mark. Balancing work and motherhood, Lopez admitted that she’s been juggling college visits with the press tour for her new film 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.' “We’re visiting colleges today, between doing this [press] and the premiere,” she shared.
Although the milestone is exciting, it’s also stirring up some deeply personal emotions. “I’m happy because I remember how exciting that time of my life was when I was like, ‘Oh, I’m figuring out what I want to do with my life,’” Lopez said. “It’s an exciting adventure, and I want that for them. But I also think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be by myself.’”
Her reflections continued on the red carpet later that evening. Speaking with E! News at the New York screening of 'Kiss of the Spider Woman,' Lopez added, “I remember what it was like at 17, 18 years old, waiting for my life to begin. I feel that for my children. They have the world at their feet. I’m ready for them to go out there and have their adventure in life.”
Despite her readiness, she isn’t shy about the challenges of parenting alone. “I was a few minutes late today when I got there,” she confessed about a recent campus visit. “It's like any single mom, you get there late. You always feel like you're behind.” Still, she noted the positive outcome: “They liked the school today, so that made me happy.”
The emotional shifts come during a transformative time for Lopez herself. After finalizing her divorce from Ben Affleck earlier this year, she described her latest role as a welcome outlet. “It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow, become more self-aware,” she said. “I'm a different person now than I was last year.”
And while her own journey has taken a new turn, she has always worked to create a lasting sense of home for her kids. “Whatever this is, whatever we create, the three of us together, it’s going to be something that they always are like, ‘When I go home, it feels good. It smells like home, it tastes like home.’ All of it,” she said on Live with Kelly and Mark. “And I always concentrated on that with them. And I feel like we’ve created that.”
“I will always be there for them. They will always have a home with me,” she said. “I like to think that I made a type of home that they would love to come back to as much as they can.”
Speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast, she explained her parenting approach and her experience last summer going through a difficult moment. “I said this to my kids, ‘We're going to get through this. We're going to be better. I'm going to be stronger. And you're going to see that, and you're going to see that you can do it in your own life, too.’”