It’s fair to say Jennifer Lopez has lived her entire adult life in the spotlight. From a young age, the 53-year-old knew she wanted to be famous, and it didn’t take long before she hopped on the fame train and aimed at the stars.
Lopez has done everything, from singing and performing in musicals to dancing, being a judge on American Idol, and appearing in plenty of films. She’s also been married three times and raised two lovely children along the way.
Moreover, Jennifer is a true beauty – as a role model, she isn’t afraid of showing herself without makeup. If truth be told, we think she looks terrific.
Here’s all you need to know about Jennifer Lopez and her family.
Jennifer Lopez was born on July 24, 1970, in the Bronx, New York City. In a family of Puerto Rican descent, her father worked as a computer technician while her mother was a homemaker.
Jennifer Lopez – early life
From a very young age, Lopez showed great talent in the creative fields. She took dancing and singing lessons throughout her childhood, and at age 7, she started to perform.
Growing up, she was formed into a very tough little girl. Primarily because of her parents, who taught her how to “hustle” and keep pursuing her dreams.
“Growing up in the Bronx really did shape me, because I grew up with not a lot,” Lopez said in a 2020 speech.
“Everything about me; my kind of grit. I never thought about it or described it this way before but it is the heartbeat inside of me that is the Bronx and my upbringing that continues to drive me.
“From very young I never wanted to be put in a box. I wanted to be smart and athletic and sweet and tough and a Tom boy but also very glam That’s why I became an actress and performer because you get to be a lot of different things.”
As a teenager, Lopez was confident that life in the spotlight was for her.
She started performing in stage musicals, and at 16, Lopez made her film debut. She had a small role in the 1986 film My Little Girl – and four years later, her television breakthrough came after she starred as a Fly Girl for 63 episodes in In Living Color.
Homeless at 18
Lopez had taken the advice of her parents and never gave up on her dream. That said, before her European breakthrough and television shows, she and her mother, Guadalupe, had a big fight over her career choices.
At one point, Lopez was forced to sleep on a sofa of her dance studio as her parents disapproved of her choosing a career in show business. In defiance, she decided to leave the house.
“My mom and I butted heads,’” Lopez told W Magazine in 2013. “I didn’t want to go to college — I wanted to try dance full-time. So she and I had a break.”
“I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio. I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’ A few months later, I landed a job dancing in Europe. When I got back, I booked In Living Color. I became a Fly Girl and moved to L.A. It all happened in a year.”
After her television success, Lopez’s career shot forward at the speed of light. In 1995, she starred in the well-received My Family, and a year later in the Francis Ford Coppola film Jack, also starring Robin Williams.
Two years later, in 1997, she was picked to play pop singer Selena Quintillana-Perez in the biopic Selena. Critics and viewers loved her, and Lopez was awarded a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
Jennifer Lopez – film and singing career
“When I first came on the scene, I wasn’t trying to be the size zero model or say I wasn’t Latin and change my name, I was Jennifer Lopez,” she explained.
“I had a big butt, I embraced that, but I didn’t just wanna be the Latin actress or the one who played those roles. I wanted to do different roles.”
Several more film credits followed in the 1990s. However, in 1999, Jennifer Lopez took a leap of faith and moved into a different field when she launched her singing career and released her debut album.
“I remember feeling comfortable up there and in my own skin, and that performing came naturally to me,” she said of the experience in an interview with InStyle.
After her performance in the mentioned biopic Selena, Lopez knew she wanted to pursue a singing career.
“It was a great thing for [Selena Quintillana-Perez] to be my mentor, in a way, and to teach me so much about, yes, how to navigate this business, but also how to navigate through life,” she said in another interview.
“You never know what’s going to happen. You have to live in the moment, you have to seize the day. And so I decided after that movie to make my first record. And I did.”
So how did it go?
Well, Lopez had barely made it home before things became a huge success story.
Jennifer Lopez – marriages, divorces, husband
Her single If You Had My Love sold platinum in only two weeks, and other hits included Waiting For Tonight, the video for which gave her a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording.
Everything was going amazingly well for Lopez. Her second album, J. Lo, went straight to No. 1 on the pop charts, and at the same time, her acting career was progressing too. Around that time, Lopez starred in the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, which hit the top of the box office within a week.
Ever since, ‘J Lo’ has continued to gain fans all over the world. In total, she’s released eight studio albums and has 125 acting credits to her name. That has also progressed into producing, where Lopez has been the executive producer on several shows, including Shades of Blue, World of Dance, and The Fosters.
Of course, as with any other person, Jennifer’s experienced some tough times as well. That includes in her private life, where she’s experienced more than one tough divorce.
Jennifer has been married four times in total. She tied the knot for the first time in 1997 to Ojani Noa, but their marriage only lasted a year. Then, between 2001 and 2003, she shared a union with Cris Judd.
But months after the divorce, a whirlwind romance began involving Lopez and Latin music star Marc Anthony. In June of 2004 – just weeks after Anthony had finalized his divorce from former Miss Universe, Ddayanara Torres – the couple tied the knot.
Jennifer Lopez – children Max and Emme
In 2008, they welcomed twins Max and Emme. With the arrival of her twins, she made it absolutely clear that her “coconuts,” as she calls them, were the most important thing in her world.
“They just made my life so much better,” Lopez 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.”
Today, Emme and Max are teenagers, and growing up fast. It turns out that they, just like their parents, are very creative. For example, Emme made his singing debut with mum Jennifer during the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show. Max, meanwhile, made his debut as an actor when starring in the film Marry Me.
In 2011, Jennifer and Marc split. It was a tough time for Jennifer, as she revealed that she didn’t have any money. Her label had dropped her, and her album sales weren’t doing well.
“And my business manager was like, ‘Nope, you can’t do anything right now,’” Lopez recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“I was like, ‘Really?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s not make any moves right now. Let’s just wait until you can work again.’”
Jennifer Lopez – net worth & relationship with Ben Affleck
Today, however, money isn’t a problem for “J Lo.” According to Celebrity Net Worth, she has an astonishing net worth of around $400 million.
It was at that point that Jennifer accepted an offer to become a judge on American Idol. She stayed on the show for three seasons before leaving in 2016.
And yet while Jennifer and Marc Anthony were undeniably a hot couple, the stir they caused was nothing compared to what had happened two decades earlier – and is back on again today.
“Bennifer” was a real thing in Hollywood in 2001, after Lopez met juggernaut actor Ben Affleck. The two got engaged in November, 2002, but famously broke things off just days before the ceremony was to be held.
Only, their love story wasn’t finished.
Nearly 20 years after their first engagement, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got back together. It was in May, 2021, that rumors about the two dating again appeared.
“Ben has been making the effort to make it work with their schedules,” a source told E Online.
“J.Lo thinks Ben has really stepped up and loves this version of him. It’s comforting to her and she is smitten. They are giddy together and you can tell she’s really happy.”
The couple was seen more and more in public thereafter.
“I love all the love that’s coming my way”
Then in June, it was reported that Lopez and Affleck told their friends that they were officially back together.
‘”I’ve never been better,” Lopez said on The Zane Lowe Show. “I’ve really gotten to a place in my life where I’m great on my own.”
“Once you get to that place, then amazing things happen to you that you never imagine in your life happening again,” she continued. “I love all the love that’s coming my way right now and all of the good wishes… It’s the best time of my life.”
“Bennifer” made their second-time-around red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival in September, about a month after telling the world about their romance.
In April this year, the two confirmed that they were engaged. And if you’re Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, apparently one wedding isn’t enough.
In mid-June, the couple surprised fans by announcing that they had gotten married in Las Vegas.
Married Ben Affleck twice
“Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a license with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world,” Lopez wrote in her newsletter.
“Behind us, two men held hands and held each other. In front of us, a young couple who made the three-hour drive from Victorville on their daughter’s second birthday—all of us wanting the same thing— for the world to recognize us as partners and to declare our love to the world through the ancient and nearly universal symbol of marriage.”
In August, the couple married a second time. About 100 friends and family attended a three-day marriage party at Ben’s estate near Riceboro, Georgia.
In January of last year, Lopez decided to respond to rumors about her having undergone plastic surgery and receiving botox injections. The truth? Well, she hasn’t.
In response to one person’s comments on her Instagram – they stated that she had done work on her face – she responded, “That’s just my face!! For the 500 millionth time, I have never done Botox or any injectables or surgery!!”
Jennifer Lopez – plastic surgery rumors, no makeup photos
“I don’t judge anybody. If you want to do Botox and injectables, that’s fine,” she said after launching her own skincare brand. “But I don’t want people lying on me and saying, ‘Oh, she’s trying to make believe that this stuff works.’”
We know by now that Jennifer Lopez isn’t afraid of showing the real side of herself. While many celebrities opt not to show themselves in the morning before getting ready, “J Lo” has no problem appearing in front of her millions of fans without makeup.
In April, the 53-year-old showed off her morning routine while sitting in a white bathrobe. She didn’t have makeup on – and looked amazing.
“I don’t have any special lighting or anything, this is just morning light. I don’t have any special filters on here, this is my face,” Lopez said in the video.
“As you can see, no makeup yet. I should put myself together,” she added.
Jennifer Lopez has had a fantastic career, and we praise her for showing people that you don’t always have to show yourself with the best dress or with makeup on.