Jennifer Lopez has opened up about the reality of raising four teenagers, with an incredibly relatable analogy about surfing.
The 53-year-old actress lives with husband Ben Affleck, 50, and their blended family.
Lopez has 15-year-old twins who she shares with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Affleck has a 17-year-old, 14-year-old and 11-year-old with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
So as you can imagine, things can get a little bit hectic in the Lopez-Affleck household.
Speaking on the US chat show Live with Kelly and Mark, Lopez recently opened up that the teenager years are “tough”. Cue every parent of a teenager nodding their heads in agreement.
“They start challenging you. You have this baby for a while and then it’s like, your best little friend who loves being with you all the time ... all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Get out of my room’,” she told co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, who are married and have three children together.
“It’s a time when they are individuating, and they are challenging everything you say and everything you do and everything you are, and that’s what it is. And you have to kind of just ride the waves,” Lopez continued.
“I feel like it’s like surfing. I’m just riding the waves, and then it’s like, ‘Oops, I just got knocked over!’ I’m back. I’m back!”
The Mother actress also revealed she believes the teenage years are “particularly hard” on mums because “they always love dad” – at which point she turned to her mum in the audience and told her, “I understand you so much more now”.
Lopez’s mum Guadalupe recently revealed how she’d had major faith her daughter would get back together with Ben Affleck.
The pair first met in 2002, before splitting two years later and reuniting again in 2021. They married each other a year later in July 2022.
“I knew that you would always get back together because I prayed for 20 years,” she said, earning an affectionate eye roll from her daughter on the Today show.
During the same appearance, Lopez also spoke about her husband’s connection with her two children, 15-year-old twins Max and Emme.
“They love Ben. He’s a wonderful, wonderful father and father figure to them, as well,” she said.
“He’s fantastic. He’s really stepped up to the challenge of what that is and what that means, and they love him.”