Jennifer Lopez says she feels guilty when she can’t protect her children from being judged

While promoting her new film “The Mother,” Jennifer Lopez expressed feeling guilty when she cannot protect her children. During a conversation with   Audacy  , Lopez opened up on the things she wishes she could protect her children from.

“Everything. There’s so many things. I think being the child of famous parents is not something many people can understand, and I feel for (my kids) for that because they didn’t choose that… They have just started letting me know how people treat them – so when they walk into the room, that’s what people are thinking about,” she said. “They’re not seeing them for who they are. And I think that has to be a really hard thing for them. So I would love to be able to protect them from that.”

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According to the mom of two, when people judge them might be the hardest. “But also (from) being judged. Everybody has to deal with being bullied; like you said, it doesn’t matter who you are, you can get bullied,” she assured. “But being judged by people, you don’t even know in a way is, I think, really difficult for them to grow up and be themselves.”

Jennifer said that the teenagers she shares with her ex-husband Marc Anthony are aware of the spotlight on them, and sometimes they struggle with it. “They know that there’s a lens on them, and that’s hard. Probably not (a) a very relatable thing to say because a lot of people don’t understand it – but it’s hard for them, I think,” she says. “And I did that to them, and so again, we have this guilt as moms, what we do and what we brought into their lives. So there’s that part.”

“But I think I would want to protect them from everything… You don’t ever want them to feel a moment of pain in their lives, but that’s not realistic. You realize as you get older, okay, the pain is necessary. The pain is actually good. The pain kind of makes you feel a little bit like a warrior when you get through it,” the singer, actress, and businesswoman added.

As an accomplished artist, the star also experiences firsthand the complexities of being a mom from a distance.

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During a recent interview on The View, the actress shared more details about her personal life with her husband, Ben Affleck, Max, and Emme. “I remember my mom saying to me, ‘I’m always the bad guy; I got to discipline you,’” she said about her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez. “And there is some truth to that. You get a little bit of the brunt of it.”

Jennifer went on to explain that her “heart hurts” sometimes when she sees her kids “locked up in their rooms,” as she wants to spend time with them, adding, “Let’s hang out. I miss you!”

She continued, “I’m experiencing this now; you know we all experience it for the first time with our own kids. And you’re just like, ‘Oh, this is what she was talking about.’ This is the time when your kids don’t want to talk to you. And they’re kind of individuating from you.”