Jennifer Lopez Was Homeless & Slept on Dance Studio Sofa - Now She Raises Funds to Help Sick Kids in Need

• Jennifer had a difficult childhood; she fought with her mother a lot and spent nights sleeping in dance halls.
• Despite all the problems, J. Lo chased her dreams, forged her own path to becoming a millionaire, and eventually created her own fund to help the needy and children.
• She named one of her foundations in honor of the deceased sister of her ex-husband, who was only eight years old when she passed.

When Jennifer Lynn "J. Lo" Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, New York, her mother had no idea what her daughter's fate would be. They constantly fought while Jennifer was growing up, without her realizing that one day, her daughter would become one of the world's best-known musicians and actresses.

Since the late 1980s, Jennifer rose to fame to become one of the highest-paid Latina actresses in the history of Hollywood. She's starred in famous movies like "Maid in Manhattan," "Hustlers," and "Marry Me," and is known for the hits "Jenny From the Block," "Let's Get Loud," and "Love Don't Cost a Thing."

At 53, J. Lo is a mother of two children with former partner Marc Anthony. She gave birth to twins Maximilian David Muniz and Emme Maribel Muniz on February 22, 2008, in Long Island. Three years later, she and her then-husband announced their separation and filed for divorce.

Since then, she's lived life as she pleases, prioritizing her happiness, children, and career above all. After years of failed relationships and even engagements, she finally settled down with the love of her life, Ben Affleck.

Jennifer Lopez's Difficult Childhood

Before becoming one of the world's biggest stars, Jennifer had to endure some challenging times, especially during her childhood. It all began when what her parents wanted for her was different from what she wanted.

Her Puerto Rican parents wanted her to prioritize her education, with her mom working as a kindergarten teacher and her dad working as a computer specialist. However, this wasn't what she wanted for herself.

Jennifer wanted to sing, dance, and act – she's always wanted to be famous, and that was the path she wanted to pursue. Lucky for Jennifer, she had the talent to go with her dream. She bet on herself, and it eventually paid off now that she's one of the world's most famous stars.

This decision did not sit well with Jennifer's mother, who kept pushing her to pursue an education and get a college degree. Speaking about this time in her life, she said:

"My mom and I butted heads. I didn't want to go to college – I wanted to try dance full-time."

When J. Lo told her mother about this decision, it did not end well. They decided to be apart from one another for some time, and Jennifer started to sleep on the sofa in her dance studio. Although she was homeless at the time, she was determined to pursue her dreams.

A couple of months after having to sleep in her dance studio, she landed a dancing gig in Europe. When she got back, she was cast as a Fly Girl in "In Living Color" and moved to LA. All these wonderful things happened to her in a span of a year.

Since then, there has been no turning back for J. Lo, and her career started to skyrocket. By the 1990s, she was already one of the most famous Latina celebrities in Hollywood.

Choosing to Give Back

Because of the difficulties she faced growing up, Jennifer knows what it's like to be struggling. So, when she had more than enough money to get by, she launched a charitable organization with her sister Lynda called the Lopez Family Foundation.

She and her sister would often talk about what they could do to impact the world, even when they didn't have much. However, it was in 2008 that the mission was finally made clear to them.

At the time, J. Lo's daughter Emme developed a bump on the back of her head. She rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night and had the doctor meet her there. She knew that the swift service was in part due to her being famous. "I had all these privileges, which wasn't lost on me," she admitted.

However, when she got home that night, she couldn't stop thinking about what could've gone down if she didn't have such VIP privilege. So, she launched her foundation the following year, which aims to help improve healthcare services for women and children.

While the foundation first began its work in Los Angeles, its scope has broadened to Panama, Puerto Rico, and New York. They've partnered with big brands like Samsung and Best Buy to further their advocacy and continue to look for meaningful partnerships for their cause.

Aside from the Lopez Family Foundation, Jennifer and her ex-husband Marc Anthony also started the Maribel Foundation. It was named after Anthony's sister, Maribel, who died of brain cancer when she was 8. Their foundation aims to provide pediatric care to children whose parents cannot afford the care they need.

Through the years, Jennifer has also shown generosity during trying times. She donated $1 million to relief efforts in her native Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island.

Aside from her monetary donation, J. Lo also rallied other people behind the cause. She used her platform to get to other people whom she knew could make a difference – she even got Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner to donate to Puerto Rico.

Jennifer is also the mind behind Limitless Labs, which provides assistance to underserved communities. Jennifer partnered with the microfinance organization Grameen America in their work to empower Latina entrepreneurs and further her reach.

Jennifer is the organization's national ambassador, which has a network of over 150,000 women-owned small businesses in Latino communities around the US. By 2023, the organization aims to provide 600,000 Latina entrepreneurs with $14 billion in loan capital and 6 million hours of financial literacy education.

A Present Mother to Her Children

Although she and her mom Guadalupe Rodriguez butt heads when she was younger, Jennifer credits her for doing everything she needed to do for them to survive. Likewise, Guadalupe admitted that while she wasn't the perfect mother, she did everything "with their best interest at heart."

Jennifer had the best example in Guadalupe when it comes to being a strong woman, giving her a benchmark of how to be a good mother to her own children. Through the years, J. Lo has done everything she could to raise her children well.

Her daughter Emme is a brilliant performer like her mother, even joining her on stage in 2019 to sing "Limitless" from the "Second Act" movie soundtrack. She also performed with her mom at the sixth annual Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's Blue Diamond Gala, singing Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years."

Now that they're teenagers, Jennifer credits [her children] for rearranging her life and for teaching her "the true meaning of love."

Emme's twin, Maximilian, isn't as used to the spotlight as she is. He's chosen to keep a low profile but also shares the same talent as the rest of his family. He took after his mom in being musically inclined, taking piano and voice lessons as seen on his proud mother's Instagram.

Throughout all of life's curveballs, Jennifer takes pride in learning to prioritize herself, which allows her to take care of her children properly. She discovered through all her experiences that it's not about the people you're with but yourself. She expounded:

"It's about being your own keeper and not looking for somebody to give you a home but making your own home."

Jennifer found out she was pregnant while on tour in Portugal. When she felt flutters in her stomach, she knew then and there that she was pregnant. "I immediately knew I had life inside me. I knew it," she said.

What she didn't know was that she wasn't just carrying one baby, but two! It was a pleasant surprise that had her laughing when she found out. She just couldn't believe it at the time.

Jennifer's children, whom she calls "coconuts," are the love of her life. She started using the nickname when her kids were younger because when they were only starting to grow hair, they looked like coconuts.

Since then, the nickname just stuck. She was even gifted a necklace with two coconuts engraved with her twins' initials, which she still wears alongside her many other pieces of jewelry.

Every year, Jennifer celebrates her children's birthdays. Now that they're teenagers, Jennifer credits them for rearranging her life and for teaching her "the true meaning of love."

While her children ultimately changed the course of her life and taught her the meaning of true love, Jennifer has another source of love in her husband, Ben Affleck. They've had quite a colorful past, having been together in the early 2000s and even getting engaged before breaking up months later.

Years later, with their own respective children and ex-marriages, Ben and Jennifer reunited. At first, they kept their romance a secret, with Ben getting picked up and dropped off at a location whenever he visited Jennifer's home.

Eventually, they started being open to the idea of other people seeing them together, and after months of hanging out, going on vacation together, and having their children meet, they got engaged for the second time in April 2022.

Three months after getting engaged, Ben and Jennifer skipped out on having an extravagant wedding by getting married in an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas at midnight on July 17. After the wedding, Jennifer changed her last name to Affleck and wrote about her beautiful reality.

"They were right when they said, 'all you need is love.' We are so grateful to have that in abundance, a new wonderful family of five amazing children and a life that we have never had more reason to look forward to," Jennifer wrote. "Love is a great thing, maybe the best of things – and worth waiting for," she added.

Months later, Jennifer and Ben had a second wedding in Riceboro, Georgia, where friends Matt Damon, his wife Luciana Barroso, director Kevin Smith and actor Jason Mewes were in attendance. Until today, the lovely couple is in their honeymoon stage – working on their respective careers, traveling together, taking their children out, and simply living their best lives together.

Aside from their blooming personal lives and the wonderful relationship they share with their children, Jennifer is also inspired in her career. The same way she recorded her album "This Is Me... Then" twenty years ago, she released "This Is Me... Now" during a time in her life when she was blissfully in love.

Her husband inspired both albums, claiming she encouraged her to get into the recording studio twenty years ago and now. Jennifer quipped that with Ben in her life, she just feels "so inspired and so overtaken with emotion," and that brings out the best in her career and in the music she creates as well.

The big changes in Jennifer's life started and ended with Ben. She once admitted that their breakup in 2004 was so painful that she thought she was going to die. The singer went on to claim that the painful breakup sent her on a spiral for 18 years where she just couldn't get it right.

However, throughout everything Jennifer experienced, it was love that kept her together – an undying love for her teenage children and for her husband and the life they now live. Living life in abundance has allowed her to give back as much as she can, taking her love for her children and spreading it to all those in need by donating money towards noble causes for women and children.

After years of trying to figure life out, Jennifer finally got it right. She now lives happily ever after with Emme, Max, and Ben, with no signs of stopping her constantly blooming career anytime soon.