The now
43-year-old says when she was 18 she was forced to sleep on a sofa in her dance
studio after fighting with her mother Guadalupe Rodriguez over her career
choices. The Grammy Award-winning star says she wanted to pursue a career in
show business but her parents did not approve, so she subsequently moved out of
home. 'My mom and I butted heads,' she tells the magazine. '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."' But it wasn't too long until
Jennifer scored her first gig.
'A few
months later, I landed a job dancing in Europe,' she says. '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.' But Jennifer says it took a long time for her to get used to the
Hollywood lifestyle after living in the Bronx, New York. 'I
hated L.A.,' she says. 'I was asking, "Where’s the store for milk? Don’t
you guys walk on the street?"' And while she later became fond of the City
Of Angels, just like she sings in her famous song she says she will always be
'Jenny From The Block.' 'Now I
love Los Angeles, but it doesn’t give me strength the way the Bronx did. All
the strength that I needed for life, I got from that neighborhood,' she
explains.
Jennifer
of course is the mother of her own two children now, five-year-old twins, Max
and Emme. She says she hopes she can set a good example for her brood, teaching
them good work ethic. 'I think a lot about teaching my kids to work hard. I’ve
learned something about kids -- they don’t do what you say; they do what you
do,' she says. 'I watched my parents. My dad worked nights, and I was aware of
how much he was doing for us.'My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn’t let them down. And I had a natural discipline from early on. I was always training for something.' These days Jennifer is one of the most famous entertainers in the world. As well as being a singer and an actress, she is also a fashion designer and television producer. Jennifer has been in over 30 films, four TV series and recorded eight studio albums. With records sales of 75 million and a cumulative film gross of over $2 billion, she is regarded as the most influential Hispanic performers in the United States.
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