Jennifer Lopez Loves the Challenge of Twins
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In August, we brought you Self magazine’s interview with Jennifer Lopez, who opened up about life with twins Max David and Emme Maribel, 5 ½-months, as well as her hopes to run a triathlon. Mission accomplished! On Sunday Jennifer completed the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 28 seconds. Now, Self has released the outtakes from its September cover story, and in them Jennifer, 39, speaks at length about her views on motherhood and why — despite a successful career as a singer, actress and fashion designer — the twins remain her proudest accomplishment. "Even while I was still in the hospital, I was very much aware in that moment that this is the biggest thing [I] will ever do," Jennifer says. "This is it! For any woman and for me as well." After spending a lifetime focusing primarily on herself, Jennifer admits that shifting that focus to two new, little people was a challenge at first, describing it as "a whole different take and a whole different spin on life."
"You’re aware that you’re really responsible for raising these children in the right way, trying to instill them with values and tools and love. And you have to have patience and boundless energy."
Motherhood is "a relentless thing," Jennifer notes, with little room for self-indulgences. "It’s not like, ‘OK, today I want to sleep in.’ Nope! You’re going to get up and you’re going to do it again," she says.
"You can always take a day off from work. You can always take time from a relationship. Or family. You can take time from anything except raising kids. It’s a challenge for me, which is great, because I love a challenge."
Click ‘more’ to read about what inspires Jennifer, and why work is no longer as important in her life.
Her newly shuffled list of priorities has the babies coming first; Jennifer explains that she’ll only leave the twins with her sister, her mom or husband Marc Anthony — and even then, "only for a few hours at a time." While work now comes second, it is still very important to Jennifer, who feels that she needs "to be fulfilled as an individual to be good for everybody else" in her life. She adds, however, that to some extent "even that has changed" since she welcomed Max and Emme.
"Before, being fulfilled as an individual would’ve been so much more about work. It’s not about that as much anymore. That paradigm has shifted for me."
With that said, if she finds herself looking for a creative spark in any of her various professional endeavors, Jennifer says she looks no further than to what’s waiting for her at home. Calling the love she has for her children and husband "the most inspirational thing" in her life, Jennifer adds,
"Anybody who has a child will understand that. That I can’t stop…[I'm] more inspired to do things. If I’m doing music, I think about them hearing it later. If I’m doing a performance, they’re going to know that they were alive when I did this performance. That’s the main motivating force, is my family."
Source: Self
