Fans may have been disappointed when Jennifer Lopez shockingly pulled the plug on her tour amid her split from Ben Affleck, but it turned out to be a very important decision for her family!
As Perezcious readers will recall, Jennifer was set to embark on her This Is Me… Live tour in the summer of 2024 when she unexpectedly canceled it. There were reports of terrible ticket sales leading up to the decision. Of course, rumors of her split from the actor were also hitting a fever pitch, and, as we all know, they ended up filing for divorce. At the time, J.Lo told fans it was “absolutely necessary” to call off the shows, but she didn’t really get into why. But now, she’s opening up!
Related: Jennifer Lopez Complains She Isn’t Taken Seriously As An Actress!
On the new episode of Las Culturistas out on Wednesday, Jenny from the Block revealed she spent an entire year reconnecting with her children, including over the summer when she was meant to be traveling on tour. She explained:
“But last year when I had to cancel my tour, and I took a whole year off, I finished [Kiss of the Spider Woman] last March, and I didn’t start another movie until this following March [when] I did Office Romance.”
Whoa! That’s a big break for her!
It was a major reset for the star’s personal life, she reflected:
“And during that year, literally just sat in like a rocking chair.”
She was also soaking up precious quality time with her 17-year-old twins, Emme and Max, whom she shares with her ex Marc Anthony. The singer shared:
“I was with my kids. I really wanted them to feel me and I didn’t wanna be away from them. And we reconnected in a way because I’ve always been a working single mom for most of their life. And so it was so nice for them to have me there every single day for a year, which was so different for them and for me.”
It must’ve been so nice!
During an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark on Monday, the Marry Me lead revealed that while she was in NYC for press, she was going to be taking her kids on a college tour. Already?? Crazy! She said:
“I mean, it’s crazy. We’re visiting colleges today, between doing this [press] and the premiere, we’re visiting a college today. It’s happening — they’re leaving, they’re going, and it’s crazy.”
While she’s obviously excited for them to spread their wings, it’s going to be a weird adjustment for the momma:
“I’m happy because I feel like I remember how exciting that time in my life was like, ‘Oh, I’m figuring out what I want to do with my life.’ And it’s an exciting adventure, I want that for them. But I also think like, ‘Oh! I’m going to be by myself.’”
When Kelly Ripa suggested she might love being an empty nester, Jennifer mused:
“But also always making a home that they want to come back to, right? That was the goal for me since they were born. 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. And I always concentrated on that with them. And I feel like we’ve created that.”
Acknowledging they went through a “brutal” phase a few years ago, the 56-year-old went on:
“I feel like, we’re close. We’re a close-knit three now. A lot has happened with us. […] We had to bond together, you know what I mean? That kind of changed things and made it really beautiful for us.”
So sweet. Sounds like this last year has been so pivotal — and taking time off of work was a smart idea! The divorce must’ve been so hard for the kids, as well, who got close to Ben and Jennifer Garner‘s children. Now, the Let’s Get Loud artist can send them off into the world with no regrets of how she spent her time!
Hear more from her press tour (below)!
Thoughts? Let us know!
[Image via Las Culturistas/YouTube & Jennifer Lopez/Instagram & MEGA/WENN]