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It's Not That I Didn't Love Myself Before. Sometimes We Don't Realize That We Are Compromising Ourselves. To Understand That A Person Is Not Good For You, Or That That Person Is Not Treating You In The Right Way, Or That He Is Not Doing The Right Thing For Himself - If I Stay, Then I Am Not Doing The Right Thing For Me. I Love Myself Enough To Walk Away From That Now.

-Jennifer Lopez

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It's Not That I

Jennifer Lopez

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It's Not That I Didn't Love Myself Before. Sometimes We Don't Realize That We Are Compromising Ourselves. To Understand That A Person Is Not Good For You, Or That That Person Is Not Treating You In The Right Way, Or That He Is Not Doing The Right Thing For Himself - If I Stay, Then I Am Not Doing The Right Thing For Me. I Love Myself Enough To Walk Away From That Now.

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I Remember Listening To An Interview With Beyonce And She Talked About How She And Her Husband, Jay-z, Have Always Made It A Point To Have The Conversation About Them Be About Their Music, Not About Their Business, Not About Their Personal Business.

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And At The End Of The Day, I Just Want My Work To Speak For Itself.

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The Rise Of Salsa Was Such An Important Time In Musical History, Not Just In Latin Music But Music In General, Because These Guys Created A New Sound.

Don't Push Your Weaknesses, Play With Your Strengths

You Have To Fight For The Things You Want.

I Love A Good Lyricist - Always Have. The Thing That Inspired Me Most Was The Different Performers, Like Tina Turner, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Even Janet Jackson.

I Had Such A Reputation, And It Was Sad Because I Felt Like It So Didn't Represent Who I Really Was.

They're Making Me Out To Be A Serial Marrying Person Or Something. I'm Laughing At That.

Just Because You Dress Sexy Doesn't Mean You're A Bad Girl; It Just Means You Know How To Dress.

I'm Also Influenced By All The Places I've Traveled Since Then: I've Been To Hollywood And Great Fashion Shows And Seen The World. I Have A Different Perspective, And I Mix That Up.

Love Scenes Are Always Weird, Though. They're Always Uncomfortable. It's All The People Around Who Make It Uncomfortable. It's Not Usually The Actor You're Working With, Because They Usually Feel Just As Weird As You Do!

If You Kiss On The First Date And It's Not Right, Then There Will Be No Second Date. Sometimes It's Better To Hold Out And Not Kiss For A Long Time. I Am A Strong Believer In Kissing Being Very Intimate, And The Minute You Kiss, The Floodgates Open For Everything Else.

I Came From The Bronx And A Certain Background. I Worked Really Hard. I Kept My Focus On The Right Things.

I Feel Like, When We're Kids, You're Sold Into This Fairy Tale Of What Love Is. That Prince Charming's Gonna Come Along And Save You And You're Gonna Live Happily Ever After. They're Gonna Rescue Me From The Bronx, And We're Gonna Go Off And Live In A Castle Somewhere And It's Gonna Be Awesome. He's Gonna Love Me Forever, And I'm Gonna Love Him Forever, And It's Gonna Be Real Easy. And It's So Different Than That.

Even As An Actor, When You Have A Kissing Scene It's Still Weird.

My Philosophy On Life Is That We're Here To Love And To Learn. And I've Learned A Lot, So I Can't Say "i Wish This Didn't Happen Or I Didn't Make That Movie." And I Take Responsibility For Being Open [about Relationships] In The Past. I Have To, And Now I'm Doing What I Can To Make It Different.

But From The Time I Was Very Little, It Was Something I Would Do All The Time, Just Sing, Dance And Act. So It Wasn't Something That Was Fake Or Contrived As I Got Older.

My Favorite Holiday Is My Birthday-it's Very Leo.

It's Important For All Types Of Women To Know That You Don't Have To Fit A Prototype Of What One Person Thinks Is Beautiful In Order To Be Beautiful Or Feel Beautiful.... People Think, Sexy, Big Breasts, Curvy Body, No Cellulite. It's Not That. Take The Girl At The Beach With The Cellulite Legs, Wearing Her Bathing Suit The Way She Likes It, Walking With A Certain Air, Comfortable With Herself. That Woman Is Sexy. Then You See The Perfect Girl Who's Really Thin, Tugging At Her Bathing Suit, Wondering How Her Hair Looks. That's Not Sexy.

My Own Style Influences Have To Do With Where I Grew Up, In The Bronx, And I Still Like To Wear Bangles And Big Hoops!

I'm A Singer. I'm A Dancer. I'm A Performer. I'm An Actress. That's What I'm Supposed To Be Doing. It Makes Me A Better Parent, A Better Person. I Think I Can Just Handle More Than The Average Bear, You Know?

I Don't Look At People And See Color And Race. I See Inside.

But The Idea Of Taking Things And Mixing Them Together Is What I Do In My Music. I Take Hip-hop, R&b, Pop, Dance, Funk And Soul And Mix It All Together To Get My Own Sound.

I'm Very Into Positive Thinking. The Minute I Feel Nervousness Or Anxiety Or Fear, I Go, "no, No, That's Not A Thought That I Need To Have Right Now. Everything's Great, Everything's Good, You're Going To Be Fine."

Positive Thinking

I Swear To God, I Don't Remember Anything Gwyneth Paltrow Was In. Some People Get Hot By Association. I Heard More About Her And Brad Pitt And I Ever Heard About Her Work.

I Feel I Want To Grow As An Actress And Be Better. I Want To Progress As A Singer And Songwriter, And Produce Movies And Everything. So There'll Be No Time When I Feel I've Done It All.

I Did Ballet, Jazz And Flamenco From When I Was Five Years Old. And My Professional Career Started With Dancing In Musicals.

I Like To Cook Puerto Rican Food. That's What I Grew Up On: Rice, Beans, Meat, Some Italian-american Food. I Know My Way Around The Kitchen.

And I Love The Idea Of Spending The Whole Day In Bed With My Lover.

All The Old Clichés About Women Need To Be Undone. Enough Already. We're In The Other Position Now. We Are Desirable Older, We Can Date Younger Guys And It's Not This Big Taboo. Men Have Been Doing This For Years.

I Remember When I Was 33 Or 34, It Was Devastating Because I Realized I Wasn't A Kid Anymore. The Great Thing About 40 Was That I Really Felt Like I Had Life Experience And Knew What I Was Doing Now.

Life Experience

You Get To A Point In Life Where It Suddenly Occurs To You That You Don't Need All The Things You Once Thought You Did--that It's Really, Well, Convoluted. My Life Feels Overblown Sometimes, And I Don't Want It To Be. I Want It To Be Streamlined. So I'm Living A Much More Unscripted Life Now Than I Have In A Long Time.

When You Have Children, You Realise You Can't Plan Anything. There's No Plan A, No Plan B. Life Will Happen And You Will Go With It.

The Media - They Want To Rush Everything. They Want To Give Their Seedy Opinions Without Knowing All The Facts.

For Me, Love Is The Never-ending Question. It Is Confusing. It Is The Answer, But It Is Also Inundated With Contradictions And Complications.

I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Performer, And My Mother Started Taking Me To Dance Classes When I Was Five. My Mother Is A Teacher, My Father Works At An Insurance Company. When I Said I Wanted To Be A Performer, People Went, "yeah, Right." You Don't Do That Where I Come From.

I Have To Work, For My Soul.

In My Mind I First Felt Like, Oh, I'll Be Back To Work Right After The Babies Are Born. But Then You Don't Want To. Even Now, It's Very Difficult For Me To Leave Them In The Morning. It Just Tortures Me. I'm Like, It's Been Hours; Are They Wondering Where I Am? Do They Know That I Love Them So Much And I'm Thinking Only About Them?

I'm Passionate, I'm Driven At My Job And I Also Am Compassionate With People. We All Think We Can Save Somebody That We Love.

With Hard Work, Living A Good Life, You Can Do Anything. You Will Be Rewarded For That.

I Have My Own High Standards For What I Want In A Partner And How I Want To Be Treated. I Bring A Lot To The Table. I'm Not Talking About Material Things But What I Have To Offer As A Person - Love And Loyalty And All The Things That Make A Good Relationship.

Good Relationship

I Just Never Really Gave Myself Any Credit. And Because Of That, Nobody Else Did Either. You Mirror What The World Mirrors To You.

Because The Truth Is, Nobody Knows What's Best For You Better Than You Do. You Have To Really Sit Still And Ask Yourself: What Do I Want? Does This Feel Right? What Should I Do? I Realized I Had To Go Back And Do What I Had Always Done. Listening To My Gut Was Just As Important As Listening To The Advice Of Others, And Only I Knew What Was Best For Me.

Until You Value Yourself Enough And Love Yourself Enough To Know That, You Can't Really Have A Healthy Relationship.

You Have To Take Care Of Yourself, Your Body, Your Mind, Take Care Of Your Soul-be Your Own Keeper.

I'm Living The Life I Always Dreamed Of Living. From The Time I Was A Youngster I Wanted To Be A Celebrity. It's A Great Life. The Only Bad Thing Is That People Are More Interested In Your Personal Life Than They Are In Your Work And It's Freaky

I Think Everything Needs To Be Played Real, For Reality's Sake, For Truth. And That Is The Drama And The Comedy. When You Do That, It's Funnier. And When You Do That, You Really Do Hit The Emotional Beats. I Do It The Same Way As I Do A Drama. I Just Play It For Truth, And Then Maybe Have A Little Bit Of Fun With It Sometimes.

Nobody Wants To Hear Celebrity Complain

When I Turned 40, I Was Like, Huh. I Accept Myself More Now. It Was Much More Comforting.

You Have To Remember The Value Of Your Individuality - That You Have Something Special And Different To Offer That Nobody Else Can.

I Know That There Is A Force In The World And An Energy That You Can Put Out, And When You Put Out Love It Comes Back To You. I Think That's My Basic Philosophy.

I Look To The Women Who Epitomize Old Hollywood Glamour, Like Rita Hayworth. She Had A Way Of Making Sophisticated Clothes Look Sexy Without Ever Seeming Sleazy Or Cheap.

Love To Me Is Someone Telling Me, 'i Want To Be With You For The Rest Of My Life, And If You Needed Me To I'd Jump Out Of A Plane For You.'

I Like To Maintain A Certain Sense Of Fantasy. At Home, Do I Have The Full Hair And Makeup? No. But I Might Have The Nice Dress On.

I Wasn't The Most Popular Girl In Class, I Had My Friends, But I Was Comfortable With Myself. There's Always Those Most Popular Girls And I Wasn't One Of Those.

I Know That Being Seen As A Role Model Means Taking Responsibility For All My Actions. I Am Human, And Of Course, Sometimes I Make Mistakes. But I Promise That When I Fall, I Get Back Up.

I'd Be Stupid Not To Take Into Consideration That There Are Certain Things People Will Not Consider Me For Because My Name Is Lopez. And I Know I Can Do Any Kind Of Role. I Don't Want Anybody To Say, Oh, She Can't Pull This Off. So Those Are Barriers That You Have To Overcome.

I Am Positive - Determined To Move Forward With My Life, Bring Up My Babies, And Do The Best Job I Can As A Mother, Entertainer, And Person.

The Truth Is, Everything That's Happened Was Supposed To Happen. That Doesn't Mean I Don't Look Back And Think, God, I Wish I Hadn't Had To Go Through Some Of Those Things.

When I See Puff In A Video Kissing Someone, It's Freaky And I Know It's Freaky For Him To See Me Do A Movie Love Scene, But As Far As Him Forbidding Me To Do Them, That's Bull.

This Is The Man My Mother Lived For. My Career Means Something Now Because I've Worked With Robert Redford.

I Just Knew That Was What I Wanted To Do. I Was Going To Perform As A Singer; I Was Going To Perform As A Dancer, And I Was, You Know, Going To Do Movies And Be An Actress. I Was Going To Do It Or Die Trying. That's What My Life Was

Getting To Play The Part Of Selena Was Life-changing For Me, I Got To Immerse Myself In Her Life, Got To Know Her Family, Her Home, Her Culture ... Every Part Of Her Story. It Was A Special Time In My Life Both Professionally And Personally. Playing Her Not Only Opened Doors For Me In The Film World, But It Inspired Me To Start My Own Music Career. In A Lot Of Ways, I Wouldn't Be Where I Am Today If I Hadn't Had That Experience.

When You're Younger, You Don't Realize You Have Limitations And That You Are The One Who Has To Take Care Of Yourself. Nobody Else Is Going To Do It For You. And So, With All Of That Time, Maturity And Realizations, I'm In A Much Better Place To Be The Best That I've Ever Been And To Continue Growing As A Person And As An Artist.

Growing As A Person

I Have The Stardom Glow.

It's Like Being In The Middle Of A Tornado. It's Like, Whooooooosh, You Know What I'm Saying? It's Like Dorothy-you Wake Up And Find Yourself In The Land Of Oz.

Finding Yourself

You've Got To Love Yourself First, And Until You Value Yourself Enough And Love Yourself Enough To Know That, You Can't Really Have A Healthy Relationship.

You Have Got To Love Yourself First. You Have Got To Be Ok On Your Own Before You Can Be Ok With Somebody Else. You Have Got To Value Yourself And Know That You Are Worth Everything.

I Honestly Wear Myself Out Walking Around, Fixing This And Fixing That. Maybe That's Why I Like To Work So Much - So I Can Just Get To That Moment Where I'm Like, "whoa." I Have To Be Super Tired And Knocked Out To Stop!

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep. I Think What's Really Important Is Finding A Balance Of Mind, Body And Spirit. Someone Said To Me Not Too Long Ago, "until You're Twenty, You Have The Face You Are Born With, And After That You Have The Face You Deserve", And I Really Loved That - The Idea That You Wear Who You Are On Your Face.

I Know It's Hard For Women To Tap Into That Feeling Of Self-worth. We Need To Get The Message Out That You Are Valued, You Are A Goddess And Don't Forget That.

The Weirdest Thing About Me Is That I Like To Walk Around Naked. I Grew Up Walking Around Naked In My House. My Mom Was Like That, And My Sisters. My Father Worked Nights And Slept During The Day, So We Had No One To Hide From.

It Was Easy To Blame Other People For Treating Me In Ways I Didn't Like, But Now I Was Seeing That I Was The One At Fault. The Only Way You Can Be Mistreated Is By Allowing Yourself To Be Mistreated, And That Was Something I Did Over And Over Again. Somehow, I Needed To Find That Glimmer Of Self-respect, Buried Deep Inside, That Would Allow Me To Say: I Am Never Going To Let That Happen To Me Again. I Needed To Learn How To Stand Up For Myself In A Different Way, But I Didn't Know How.

By Nature I Am Not Tough, Believe It Or Not.

He Wouldn't Talk To Me For Two Months. I Was Like, 'what An Ass**le.' Actors Are Used To Getting Their Way And To Treating Women Like Objects. "[on Wesley Snipes After She Reports He Made Unreturned Passes At Her]

In Hollywood, She's Revered, She Gets Nominated For Oscars, But I've Never Heard Anyone In The Public Or Among My Friends Say, 'oh, I Love Winona Ryder.'

When Something Bad Happens Is When You Really Learn. It Causes Self-examination, It Causes You To Take A Look At Yourself. You Naturally Start Analyzing. It's Not That You're Wrong; It's That Sometimes You Just Need To Make Adjustments. Change Your Way Of Thinking, Change Your Way Of Doing, Change Your Way Of Choosing.

I Think Some People Just Use Pregnancy As An Excuse To Really Pig Out. To Be Really Disgusting. I Am Just Going To Eat This Is My Opportunity. I Waited For This My Whole Life. I Was Not One Of These People.

Just Making Sure That They Both Felt Equally Loved Is What Was Tough About The Twins.

I Think With Romantic Comedies It's A Lot About Tone, Because Different Romantic Comedies Have Different Tones.

You Have To Come In And Be That Character When You Walk Into The Room. That's What One Of My First Acting Teachers Taught Me. You Know, Don't Go In There Being Jennifer And Then Expect To Flip And Change, Because They're Not Going To Have That Imagination.

I Had Twins, So It Was Really Uncomfortable [to Sleep], Because You Lay On One Side, And There's A Baby, And You Lay On The Other Side And There's A Baby. So I Had A Really Hard Time With It.

You Get What You Give. What You Put Into Things Is What You Get Out Of Them.

No Matter Where I Go I Know Where I Came From.

It's A Real Roller-coaster Ride If You're Lucky To Have Longevity In This Business - You Have To Be Able To Ride Those Waves.

I Can Only Speak For Myself, And Hope People Hear My Words And See Me On Television Speaking For Myself. And, Hopefully, They'll Be Able To Make Their Own Judgment. And At The End Of The Day, I Just Want My Work To Speak For Itself.

The End Of The Day

Doubt Is A Killer. You Just Have To Know Who You Are And What You Stand For.

I Am A Lover. And With My Kids I Am Even Softer. I Realize With My Son, I Have To Sometimes Be Tough, Especially Now When He's Pushing Boundaries. With My Daughter, I Can Get A Little Stern With Her And She Pretty Much Will Listen.

You Have To Stand Up And Say, 'there's Nothing Wrong With Me Or My Shape Or Who I Am; You're The One With The Problem!'

A Lucky Model Who's Been Given A Lot Of Opportunities I Just Wish She [cameron Diaz] Would Have Done More With.

I Can't Help But Be A Different Person Now That I've Had Kids. That Really Does Change Your Whole Perspective On Life For The Better. I Definitely Feel Like I've Grown Up. So, I Guess In A Way Parts Of Me Are Going To Be Different, But In General I'm Still The Same Girl From The Bronx Who Had Big Dreams.

Women Should Never Go Without Earrings. Passing On Them Is An Opportunity Missed.

In The End, The Truth Finds A Way To Surface Even If You Don't Want It To.

My Mom Always Told Me That If You Work Hard, You Can Achieve Anything. And It's True. It's One Of The Truest Things Ever.

I Love Seeing The Oscar Films And Epic Dramas. But I'd Rather Watch A Romantic Comedy Than Any Other Kind Of Movie. There's Something About Movies Like These That Make You Feel So Good And Happy And That You Want To Live In That World -- To Be That Girl And Be Part Of The Fairy Tale. I Have Always Believed In Fairy Tales.

I Always Joke About Letting The Haters Motivate You. Everybody Has That In Their Life, People Who Doubt Them Or Make Them Feel Less Than They Are. It Just Takes Faith And Belief In Yourself, And You've Got To Dig Deep Into That. That Has To Come From You - Nobody's Going To Give You That.

I Think That's What A Partnership Is - You Take The Positives From Both People And Incorporate Them.

It Makes Me Laugh When She Says She [salma Hayek] Got Offered Selena, Which Was An Outright Lie. If That's What She Does To Get Herself Publicity Than That's Her Thing.

If You Don't Love Yourself, You Can't Love Anybody Else. And I Think As Women We Really Forget That.

The Minute I Feel Nervousness Or Anxiety Or Fear, I Go, 'no, No, That's Not A Thought That I Need To Have Right Now. Everything's Great, Everything's Good, You're Going To Be Fine'.

I've Always Been Asked The Question, "what Is It With Australian Men?" It's Weird Because Most Of My Friends Here [in The United States] Are American Men. I Think There's Cultural Differences. It's A Really American Thing To Kind Of Wax Your Chest. As A Man It's Like, "get Rid Of That Unsightly Hair!" In Australia It's Like, "mate, What Are You Doing? Why Would You Do That? Doesn't That Hurt?" So There's A Few Little Differences That Keep Us.

We As Human Beings Do This Thing Where We Stuff Down Our Feelings Until They Find A Way To Manifest Themselves. We Try To Avoid Them Until There's No More Room And They Come Bubbling Up Like A Pot Of Boiling-hot Water That Overflows. And When It Does, It Burns.

Sometimes You Have To Explore The Darkness To Get To The Light And Get Back To Who You Are.

I Am A Strong Believer In Kissing Being Very Intimate, And The Minute You Kiss, The Floodgates Open For Everything Else.

Honestly, I Have S Much Respect For Single Moms Or Anybody Who Finds Themselves A Single Mother, But To Even Choose To Be Single Mother Is Just So Courageous To Me. It Is Such A Hard Job To Raise A Child And Be Everything To That Child Without A Partner. It's Just Admirable And Courageous And Brave And Every Other Valiant Word I Can Think Of. I Don't Know If I Could Do It On My Own.

So I Sat Down With Him And Portrayed More The Side Of The Character He Needed To See. Which Is What I Do When I Go In For An Interview For A Part I Like. As Much As You Think You're Dealing With Creative People, They See You For What Your Image Is Out There.

Change Your Way Of Thinking, Change Your Way Of Doing, Change Your Way Of Choosing.

I Think That's Very Important For Romantic Comedies, That They Do Deal With [modern]issues.

My Parents Wanted Me To Be A Lawyer. But I Don't Think I Would Have Been Very Happy. I'd Be In Front Of The Jury Singing.

I'm Feeling Lucky Like A Four-leaf Clover

I Like To Maintain A Certain Sense Of Fantasy In My Life.

I'll Just Get Better As I Go Along Because I'm Open To Getting Better. If You Have The Goods, There's Nothing To Be Afraid Of. If Somebody Doesn't Have The Goods, They're Insecure. I Don't Have That Problem

When I Am Wrong, I Will Learn The Lesson And Move On To Face Other Challenges. For Me, That's What Creating Your Own Life Is. Doing Your Best Work While Being Your Best Self.

You Mirror What The World Mirrors To You.

Once You Have A Lot Of Success, You Become A Target In Many Ways.

When I Was Young, I Was Just About Hard Work. But As I Got Older, I Did Experience Anxiety, Doubt, Judgment, And It's So Easy To Lose Yourself For A Second.

I'm Grateful For Everything I Have. I'm Grateful For It All. I'm Grateful For Love Most Of All Because I Have A Lot Of It In My Life.

You've Gotta Do Things That Make You Happy. As Women, We Tend To Give Away A Lot. We Take Care Of A Lot Of People, And We Can't Forget To Take Care Of Ourselves.

If Anyone Can Figure Out How To Balance My Celebrity And My Dual Careers In Music And Film, It's Me. I Don't Feel Frightened; I Feel Challenged.

I Had A Healthy Appetite [being Pregnant]. I Got More Healthy As Time Goes On, And They Grew. I Never Let Myself Go.

I Always Love When Everybody Else Is Really Bringing Their Game, Because It's Only Going To Make The Movie Better; It Just Makes You Work Harder And They Work Harder And Everybody Is Trying To Get Their Little Bit In. It's Competitive In A Constructive Way.

It's Not That Serious I Never Put That Much Thought Into Us It Wasn't That I Loved You I Was Curious

I Grew Up In The Bronx Where You Would Stay Up Late With Your Girlfriends, Just Being Silly In Our Bedrooms, Whatever. And I Was Always The Clown.

I Went To Catholic School For 12 Years And Went To Church Every Sunday. I May Not Do That Anymore But I Think It Gave Me A Good Basis. I've Also Explored Things On My Own Different Philosophies And Spiritual Teachings And I Use What Works For Me.

I Remain An Eternal Optimist About Love. I Believe In Love.

Ain't It Funny How A Moment Could Just Change Your Life, And You Don't Want To Face What's Wrong Or Right. Ain't It Strange How Fate Can Play A Part, In The Story Of Your Heart.

I Have No Ego. There Is No Way You Can Have A Big Ego And Survive In This [show]business. You Can't Learn If You Think No One Else Has Anything To Say That's Of Value.

We Had Our Moment [with Marc Anthony] In The Third Or Fourth Year That We Were Married, When We Did Everything Together: We Did "el Cantante," We Did The Tour, We Made All The Music Together, He Produced My Album [2007's Spanish-language "como Ama Una Mujer"]. That Was A Really Beautiful Time For Us.

I Thought She'd [her Mother] Offer Me Some Sympathy. Instead, She Said, 'don't You Ever Call Me Crying Again! You Wanted To Be In This Business, So You Better Toughen Up!' And I Did.

I Kind Of Feel Like Everybody Knew Anyway. I Was On Tour With A Bubble Gut!

I'm Not J.lo, She's Not A Real Person. She Was Just A Bit Of Fun That Got Really Crazy. I've Never Been Anyone But Jennifer. I Was Going To Call The Album Call Me Jennifer Because That Would Be My Way Of Saying Goodbye To The Whole J.lo Thing. But Rebirth Is Perfect Because It Means So Much More.

I'm A Hopeless Romantic And Passionate Person When It Comes To Love.

You Can't Take Life For Granted.

Taking Life For Granted

Where You Really Have Your Eggs In One Basket And That Breach Happens And You Know You Should Go But You're Still In Love And You Just Don't Know What To Do. It Hits You Because It's Not Like -- You're A Cheater, And A Liar, And I Hate You, And You're No Good, And I'm Leaving. It's Not That. It's Like, I'm Tormented. Even Though You've Done This And I Know It, I Still Don't Know What To Do. I Know I Should Go, But I Don't Want To. And That's Why It's Such A F***ed-up Thing.

I Really Love Doing Nothing. I Really Love Just Being At Home And Taking A Couple Of Days, You Know, Doing Nothing. You Know What I Mean? Just Getting Up, Being Around The House, Going Outside The Back Yard, Coming Back In; I Really Like To Do Nothing Because I Travel A Lot. There's A Lot Of Travelling. There's A Lot Of On The Phone All The Time. There's A Lot Of Looking At Papers And Reading Things And So You Don't Want To Read Magazines And You Don't Want To Do Anything; You Don't Want To Read Books, You Just Want To Just Kind Of Shut Down A Little Bit.

I Always Have To Work Hard To Find A Way To Disconnect From The Thinking Until It Becomes Second Nature To Me Because That's Where You Find The Best Moments. Dancing Is Like That For Me All The Time. It Makes Me Feel Free.

Some People Are Naturally Thin, And Some Are Heavier. There Is A Lot Of Focus On It, And It Can Be A Lot Of Pressure For People. But Honestly, I Think As Long As Someone Is Healthy, That Is Most Important.

I'm Not Going To Make A Judgment On Plastic Surgery Because I Don't Have To Yet. I Mean, I'd Like To Think I'll Feel Great About Myself And Age Gracefully, But Then I Think, Well, What If I Do Want A Little Bit Of Something? I'm Open To Being Open.

And I Never Ask What I'm Doing The Next Day. I Don't Want To Know What I'm Doing Tomorrow. It's Much Too Overwhelming. So I Just Go Day By Day, Without Knowing.

I Judge People On How They Smell, Not How They Look.

I've Been Married Twice And I've Tried To Make It Work, But I Feel I Haven't Had A Real Marriage Yet.

I Love A Long Bath. I Love Anything Creative. I Love Decorating. I Even Love Just Flipping Through Magazines And Vegging Out For A While. But I'm Also One Of Those People Who Loves To Work, So I'll Sing, Dance, Work On My Next Performance, Or Write Whomever It May Be About A New Idea.

I Think The Best Partner For You Is Someone Who Makes You Want To Be The Best Form Of Yourself.

People Assume I'm Out There Having This Great Life, But Money Doesn't Erase The Pain. When You're Young You Barrel Through Life, Making Choices Without Thinking Of Repercussions. A Few Years Down The Line, You Wake Up In A Certain Place And Wonder How The Hell You Got There.

All Of A Sudden One Day I Was Like, I'm Good At This! Oh, Man! People Are Not Giving Me Jobs Because They Feel Sorry For Me! I Am An Actress. I Am A Singer. I Am A Performer. That's What I Do! Once I Started Giving Myself A Little Credit, The Whole World Opened Up.

Everybody Has Seen That I Make Mistakes. Every Single Album I Have Ever Made Is About Love. But I Am Not Going To Give Up. I Have To Look At What I Do Wrong. I Rush In, I Get Swept Up, I Ignore The Signs. But So Many Of Us Are Guilty Of These Things. Each Time It Goes Wrong, It's Hard. I Get Really Hurt But I Have To Let Myself Go: 'what Did I Do? What Can I Learn?' And As Hard And As Hurtful As Things Get, I Want To Believe I Will Be Able To Go One Step Higher. I've Got To Hope That If I Keep Going I Will Eventually Get It Right.

This Film [the Cell] Certainly Is Not Meant For The Girls Who Sing Along With My Songs.

When I Found Out I Was Having Twins, I Was Even In Denial That I Was Pregnant. When I Found Out I Was Having Twins I Just Laughed. "of Course This Would Happen!" I Started Giggling.

And I Deal With All That By Being Like A Perfectionist. But That's Okay.

Jennifer Lopez Has Been Very Much In The News Because Of Her Divorce From Marc Anthony, Also A Top Singer, A Top Player In Latin Music, Her Joining The Cast Of Judges On "american Idol." But The Music Has Not Been At The Forefront.

[having Perosonal Trainer For The Movie 'the Back-up Plan'] I Felt Like I Had Just Given Birth. He Was Like, "you Can't Eat Anything But This. You've Got To Do What I Say." So Along With Doing The Film, I Did This Kind Of Disciplined Workout Regimen, Because Every Cheese Farmer Is Ripped And Buff, And I Wanted To Be True To Character, Because I'm Method. But It Took A Lot Of Hard Work To Get There. You Can Rest Assured In The Fact That It's All Gone Now.

When I Was In My 20s I Wasn't Sure Of Myself. Now I Can Really Stretch. I Don't Have To Stay In The Box. At This Point I Can Say To Myself, So What If I Fall, So What? I'm Going To Get Back Up.

I Felt About Life And The Way I Felt About My Children Was So Deep And Profound. It Was The First Time I'd Felt Anything Like That. I Knew As An Artist That It Was Going To Make A Huge Difference In Everything That I Did.

It's Not That I Didn't Love Myself Before. Sometimes We Don't Realize That We Are Compromising Ourselves. To Understand That A Person Is Not Good For You, Or That That Person Is Not Treating You In The Right Way, Or That He Is Not Doing The Right Thing For Himself - If I Stay, Then I Am Not Doing The Right Thing For Me. I Love Myself Enough To Walk Away From That Now.

I Just Think That The Whole Diva Thing Is A Misrepresentation Of Who I Am.

Misrepresentation

Anybody Who's Had Children Knows This Feeling Of Deep Love. It's A Selfless Love, An Unconditional Love. And It Makes You Kind Of Examine Everything That Has Happened.

Unconditional Love

I Only Do What My Gut Tells Me To. I Think It's Smart To Listen To Other People's Advice, But At The End Of The Day, You're The Only One Who Can Tell You What's Right For You.

Confidence: It's The Difference Between The Girl With The Perfect Body In A One-piece Bathing Suit, Pulling At It And Thinking She's Not Thin Enough Or Doesn't Have Big Enough Boobs - And The Girl Who People Call A Bit Overweight, But Meanwhile, She's Wearing A Bikini And Guys Are Saying, "god, She's Sexy." It All Has To Do With How You Feel About Yourself - It's About Projecting The Attitude, I'm Ok With Who I Am.

People Equate Sexy With Promiscuous. They Think That Because I'm Shaped This Way, I Must Be Scandalous - Like Running Around And Bringing Men Into My Hotel Room. But It's Just The Opposite.

I Really Felt The Growth Of Myself As A Human Being, As A Person [becoming A Mother].

The Weirdest Thing About Me Is That I Like To Walk Around Naked.

I Was Into Sports And Dancing. I Ran Track. I Have A Lot Of Stamina.

I Could Serve Coffee Using My Rear As A Ledge.

Maybe I'll Have Something Out By Christmas, Maybe Not. I Don't Know, I'm Really Trying To Take My Time And Do What Feels Right. (about The Next Step In Her Music Career)

I Was Always A Singer And A Dancer, And I Always Wanted To Be An Actress. For Me, It's All Just One Thing.

I Don't Get Anything For Free. I Pay For All My Beauty Treatments.

Lifes Too Short To Live The Same Day Twice.

I've Never Done A Kissing Scene With Someone Even When You're Friends. I Mean That Sort Of Even Makes It Weirder. If You Don't Know Them Or Like Them At All, You Can Kind Of Put Some Weird Like ... I Don't Know. It's The Strangest Thing. Look At The Person Next To You And Imagine Making Out With Them Now, While I Film It.

You Like The Way I Dress The Way I Wear My Hair Show Me Off To All Your Friends Baby, I Don't Care Just As Long As You Tell Them Who I Am Tell Them I'm The One That Made You Give A Damn

I Do Recommend The Vegan Diet Because You Wake Up And Feel Great!

Everything I Wanted Before, I Want Twice As Much Now. And That Doesn't Mean Material Things; It Means To Explore More, To Think More. Being An Artist Doesn't Start Because You're 21, And It Doesn't End Because You're 51. You Are Who You Are Until The Day You Die.

Puffy Produced Four Of The Tracks On The Album. Those Are The Four Songs That Are Collaborations Between Puffy And Me. And He Gives Me My Space To Work Even When We Work Together, Like With My Producer And My Vocal Coach.

As You Get Older And As You Experience And Go Through Different Things You Realize You Have To Set Boundaries. You Have To For Your Life. You Have To Say This Is Ok And This Is Not Ok. This Is What I Do For A Living And This Is My Life. It's The Only One I Get And So I Have To Set Boundaries.

You've Got To Love Yourself First. You've Got To Be Okay On Your Own Before You Can Be Okay With Somebody Else.

Loving Yourself

I Think To Give Something A Chance, To Really Get To Know Somebody, You Want To Do It Out Of The Public Eye.

I've Always Had A Huge Fear Of Dying Or Becoming Ill. The Thing I'm Most Afraid Of, Though, Is Being Alone, Which I Think A Lot Of Performers Fear. It's Why We Seek The Limelight - So We're Not Alone, Were Adored. Were Loved, So People Want To Be Around Us. The Fear Of Being Alone Drives My Life.

In The Past, Love For Me Has Always Meant Forever, And Sure, You Still Nurse Some Of Those Fantasies, But I Don't Try To Force It Anymore. I Hung On To My Fairy-tale Ideals For A Long Time. But Where I Am Now, What I've Been Through, There Are No Rules. There Are Lots Of Ways It Can Turn Out.

When We Graduated From College And Law School, We Had A Mountain Of Debt.

I'm Bad At A Ton Of Things. I'm Bad At Sitting Still. I'm Bad At Basketball. My Worst Habit Is That While People Are Talking, I Will Already Be Thinking Three Other Things. It's Rude. Sometimes If The Person Is Very In Tune And They Notice, They're Like "where Are You Right Now?"

I Just Thought That A Naked Pregnant Woman Checking Herself Out Would Be So Funny. I Actually Wish There Was More Of It. An Actually, It Was My Idea To Put It In, Because I Just Remember Being Pregnant And Just Marveling At The Hugeness Of My Body, Like Looking In The Mirror From All Angles. But That's Something You Do Privately.

Obviously No Parent Does Everything Right. It's This Weird Thing That Happens Where You Are Striving To Be As Good As You Can Be So That They Turn Out Well. And That Requires That You Be A Really Great, Evolved, Aware Person In Every Moment. Which Is Pretty Awesome. But It's Also Putting Tremendous Pressure On Yourself--which Is Why Women Feel So Guilty!

Men Really Disgust Me If They Don't Have A Nice Smile, Nice Lips And Nice Teeth...they Have Too Many Disgusting Habits - Like Scratching Themselves All The Time. And It's Really Weird How Guys Think That Passing Gas Is The Funniest Thing In The World. They Love To Do That Thing In Front Of Girls And Laugh About It.

People Used To Believe Their Life--or At Least Their Life As A Performer--was Over At 28 Or Some Ungodly Age! God, When I Think Of Myself Back Then, I Had No Idea Who I Was. I Think I'm Barely Getting That Under Control Now.

I Love What I Do. I Have An Insatiable Appetite For Creating Things And Wanting To Get Better At What I Do And Always Growing And Never Stopping. I Don't Know. It's Something I Was Born With. It's Definitely A Drive. It's A Passion, And It's Driven For A Love For What I Do.

Creating Things

My Main Priority Now Is That My Kids Are Happy; That's My Number-one Focus In Life. Are These Little People Happy, Content, And Getting Everything They Need? Everything After That Is Secondary. Before, My Work Was My Main Priority -- Even Above Myself.

You've Gotta Do Things That Make You Happy.

Always Follow Your Heart. Sometimes It's Gonna Hurt - But You're Going To Be Fine.

I Would Never Speak About Specifics In My Own Relationships Because I Think It's Tacky. If You Seriously Want To Know, Listen To The Music.

I Was Always Very Comfortable With Who I Was. Confident. I’ve Never Looked At [my Body] In A Negative Way.

[after The Twins' Birth,] I Spent Two Years Doing Nothing. I Was A Wife And A Mom. But You Need That Time To Grow. You Can't Be Afraid Of, 'oh, I'm Out Of The Public, Then I'm Going To Have To Make A Comeback.' It's Ridiculous. No.

You Can’t Let The Fear Of What People Might Say Or Think Stop You From Doing What You Want To Do Or Else We Would Never Do Anything.

Doing What You Want

I Love Working With The Singers. I Love Just Finding Them.

When It's Easy, It's Great. But When Something Bad Happens Is When You Really Learn. It Causes Self-examination, It Causes You To Take A Look At Yourself. You Naturally Start Analyzing. It's Not That You're Wrong; It's That Sometimes You Just Need To Make Adjustments.

Look At Yourself

A Romantic Comedy Has To Be Funny And Make You Think About Life; But The Obstacle That Has To Be Overcome Is Key.

I Don't Regret What I've Been Through. I've Had Ups And Downs, Super Highs And Some Really Low Lows. I've Been So Blessed That I Could Never Say, "i Wish This Didn't Happen." It's Part Of Who I Am. There's Nothing In My Life That's So Ugh.

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