Cover Girl: Jennifer Lopez on Glamour

Our favorite Latina actress/singer/designer/dancer Jennifer Lopez is splashed on the cover of the current issue of Glamour magazine. She sat down to talk the talk on her upcoming movie with hubby Marc Anthony, and those pesky pregnancy rumors.

GLAMOUR: So let’s talk about El Cantante. In one scene you’re dancing with Marc, and the look on your face is so vulnerable—is it easier to let down your guard around someone you’re with in real life?

Jennifer Lopez: Yes. It’s totally different than working with an actor you don’t know, where sometimes you have great chemistry and sometimes you don’t. When Marc and I work together, there’s no barrier or boundary. I think that’s how it is in all good relationships—you feel the most safe there. But on set, we kept it very professional: We bounced ideas off one another and treated each other like any other actor. We even had separate trailers—we gave each other our space.

GLAMOUR: It sounds like you enjoyed working with him.

JL: I think the best partner you can have is someone who makes you want to be the best form of yourself. We do that for each other; that’s why we work well together. We made all these promises to each other in the beginning of the marriage, because both of us have difficult careers to manage with a partner. We don’t have 9-to-5 jobs; our day could be 24 hours long if we let it. So you have to carve out your time and make your agreements: “We are going to travel with each other. If I’m working, you’re not going to work. If we both have to work, we’re going to make sure we keep that to a minimum.”

GLAMOUR: So what drove you to make a small, indie film about a person most audiences may not know about?

JL: Whenever things got hard during filming, I would think, Why am I making this movie? And all I had to do was go back and listen to the music. The rise of salsa was such an important time in musical history, not just in Latin music but music in general, because these guys created a new sound. Even jazz greats like Miles Davis were interested in what these cats were doing. This is the first time I’ve really produced—I worked on Bordertown [2006], too, but this was my baby. I got the script from its inception, went through I don’t know how many directors and took it through five or six years of development. So I’m really proud of it.

GLAMOUR: Has your family seen the film?

JL: They haven’t yet. I’m going to have my entire family, all of my friends, everyone I work with, everyone I love at the premiere. I’m really proud of it.

GLAMOUR: At one point during the film, Hector’s sister chastises your character for not speaking Spanish. I know that once upon a time, you didn’t speak much if any Spanish. Did that hit close to home?

JL: It’s true: I grew up speaking English. My parents moved here when they were very young, and my two grandmothers were the only people in my family who spoke Spanish. It wasn’t until I did Selena [1997] that I started actively trying to learn the language. I realized I was going to have to do interviews in Spanish and didn’t want to be embarrassed. I still can’t say I speak it perfectly, but I speak it much better now.

GLAMOUR: My family’s from Panama, and I grew up in Brooklyn. As a kid, I wanted to be somewhere else, doing something different. The movie brought it all back.

JL: It’s funny, when you’re home, you don’t appreciate all of the things that culture’s about, and when you leave home, all you want are those things that define you and make you who you are.

GLAMOUR: On another note entirely…babies. People are always asking you if you’re pregnant.

JL: I know they are.

GLAMOUR: Does it get on your nerves?

JL: It’s just weird. I try to look at it as that they want something exciting to happen for me so they can put it in the news. Every other week [tabloids] say I’m pregnant, and I keep telling them, “I’m not yet.” I don’t know what else to say.

GLAMOUR: Well, you’ve been married for a while now, and you have mentioned wanting children, so…

JL: People want it to go to the next level? Marc and I just saw the film Children of Men. The message of the movie was if we don’t have children, there’s no hope for the future. And without hope, society just goes to pieces. Maybe that’s what the pregnancy rumors are about—hope for the future.

GLAMOUR: It’s hard to believe that the tabloids are writing about your alleged pregnancies because they believe that babies are the future.

JL: Yeah, maybe it’s not that deep. Maybe it’s more about seeing two people together and wanting to know if it’s real. A lot of the time, having a baby solidifies that [image]—“Oh, this is real, they’re having a child together”—you know what I mean? But I do have four stepchildren—Marc has three children and a stepchild—so my life is very rich with family and children.

GLAMOUR: So that takes the pressure off, because he’s not desperate?

JL: Not desperate, no.

GLAMOUR: I had a friend who had a child from a previous relationship. She got married, and her husband said to her, “I know you have a child, but I want you to have my child.”

JL: [Raises an eyebrow and smiles.] You always want, when you love someone like you said, to have that extension of yourself. It’s interesting. [Smiles again.]

GLAMOUR: OK—your friendship with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Is it true you go on double dates with them?

JL: It’s funny, because when you get married, you do find other couples to hang out with. We have more couple friends than ever. I think that’s because we’re a solid couple ourselves. Marc really hit it off with Tom—they just got close.

GLAMOUR: And you’re also famous for doing karaoke, I hear?

JL: I have, but it’s not a thing. I like singing Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’” and old Lisa Lisa songs. My friend Leah [Remini] and I like to freestyle. We’re both New York girls!

GLAMOUR: You certainly are. Let’s talk about your style choices. Today your outfit is classic Nuyorican: hoop earrings, an armful of bangles and sexy white jeans.

JL: My own style influences have to do with where I grew up, in the Bronx—I was wearing this when I was 12 years old, and I still like to wear bangles and big hoops! I’m also influenced by all the places I’ve traveled since then: I’ve been to Hollywood and great fashion shows and seen the world. Now I have a different perspective, and I mix that up.

Want more? You can read the rest of the complete interview right here.

Photo from Glamour.