I've always been very girly.

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 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.

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 was always a singer and a dancer, and I always wanted to be an actress. For me, it's all just one thing.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

J. Lo is also an homage to my fans. That's what fans call me on the streets, and I like it. So giving the album this title is my way of telling them that this is for them, in appreciation of their support.

I loved the last album, and it was one hundred percent me. But this is like me two years later, who understands a little bit more about music and understands a little bit more about making an album. I wrote a lot more.

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.

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.

And I deal with all that by being like a perfectionist. But that's okay.

They're making me out to be a serial marrying person or something. I'm laughing at that.

I don't get anything for free. I pay for all my beauty treatments.

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.

You can't take life for granted.

This is the man my mother lived for. My career means something now because I've worked with Robert Redford.

There's no way in the world that just because women turn the number 40, they're anything less than amazing. That's crazy. If anything, you're even more amazing!

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 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.

The bottom line is that musicians love to make music and always will.

I like to maintain a certain sense of fantasy in my life. I am kind of like that at home. Do I have the full hair and makeup? No. But I might have the nice dress on.

By nature I am not tough, believe it or not.

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.

I do know a lot about Scientology. And I know about the practices. I know all about what the technology is and all that kind of stuff. It's very helpful.

I just think that the whole diva thing is a misrepresentation of who I am.

A romantic comedy has to be funny and make you think about life; but the obstacle that has to be overcome is key.

I think if you're in a committed relationship, unless you have some sort of an understanding, monogamy is something that should exist.

I've learned something about kids - they don't do what you say; they do what you do.

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.

I would never speak about specifics in my own relationships because I think it's tacky.

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 think a lot about teaching my kids to work hard.

Early on, my family really made me love who I was and what I looked like.