She's not had the easiest of times, but that hasn't stopped her from being strong and remembering what truly matters to her.
Jennifer Lopez has donned various roles in her films and music videos. But there is one role that may just be her most powerful one yet - being a woman who finally found herself after many heartbreaks and still puts her family first. No matter how much success she achieves in her career, she knows what's most important to her, what forms a part of her identity and that is putting the people she loves at the top of her priorities.
Being a famous actress doesn't mean that Jennifer Lopez isn't subject to the pain of a failed relationship. Her colorful dating life included high-profile celebrities like Wesley Snipes, Ben Affleck, and Marc Antony, according to Oprah Mag. But she didn't give up on finding true love and she struck gold when she met Yankee baseball player, Alex Rodriguez.
Jennifer first met Alex in 2005 when she and her then-husband Marc Antony attended a game. However, they started seeing each other when they reconnected in February 2017 at a restaurant. The 50-year-old actress and singer recalled to talk show host, Ellen Degeneres: "I was having lunch somewhere and I saw him as he passed by. Afterward, I went outside, and for some reason, I felt like tapping him on the shoulder," according to Entertainment Tonight.
That was when Alex took the next step. "He texted me, said, 'Let's go out to dinner,' and I said, 'OK.' We had a nice dinner," she continued. Soon enough, they were allowing their chemistry to take the wheel. Then came March 9, 2019, the day that Alex proposed to Jennifer and got a resounding yes as his reply. With a wedding date in mind, the couple is more than excited to tie the knot.
Why she's more confident about this relationship? "For me, the relationship journey has been very up and down. But it didn't have to do with anybody else but me—it was about me figuring out me," she said, according to ET! Online. J.Lo, as she is popularly known, continued, "Until you learn to love yourself, you can't completely love [someone else] in a way that is pure and true. Once you do that, you can have relationships that are based on love and respect, that are supportive and nourishing. There's an evolution there that had to happen for me. I feel like I'm in a better place now."
According to Bazaar, while talking to The View, Alex said, "It's obvious, we've been having a great time. She's an amazing girl and one of the smartest human beings I've ever met and also an incredible mother."
But Alex isn't the only one she adores and the reason why she's in a better place now - she absolutely loves the two young twins she has with her fourth ex-husband, Marc Antony — Emme Maribel Muñiz and Maximilian David Muñiz both born in 2008. She embraced motherhood with excitement and happens to be doing a great job of it.
"They just made my life so much better," Jennifer told Today in 2017. "I'm forever grateful that ... you know, I didn't have kids until later and so I almost thought that it wasn't going to happen for me, so I'm very aware that I was blessed with that. It could have been something different."
"I don't take it for granted one day," she said about her good fortune as a mother, especially a working mother. She even mentioned how everything had changed for her when her children came into her life.
According to Thrive Global, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Jennifer said in her acceptance speech, "You know, I knew I had to be better. I knew I had to go higher, I knew I had to be stronger than I had been before. It was through that unconditional love that my career, that my whole life, became clearer in every way. And now, today, I stand here stronger and better than ever. So thank you, Max and Emme. There is so much more to do, and I know in my heart that the future is even brighter than anything I could have accomplished up to now because of you."
And she's not just a great mother to her own kids as she makes the effort to help her twins bond with Alex's children from his previous marriage.
A great mother, a loving partner, a successful professional, and now a bride-to-be... A strong woman is who Jennifer Lopez is.
References:
https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/g28056592/jennifer-lopez-marriages/?slide=6
https://www.etonline.com/tv/215892_jennifer_lopez_twins_steal_the_show_on_ellen_as_she_opens_up_about_meeting_boyfriend_alex_rodriguez
https://www.eonline.com/news/899710/jennifer-lopez-is-engaged-to-alex-rodriguez
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/jennifer-lopez-motherhood/