Jennifer Lopez Says She 'Never Thought' About Her Twins Leaving Home for College: 'They've Always Been There'

The singer shares her 18-year-old twins, Max and Emme, with ex-husband Marc Anthony

NEED TO KNOW

• Jennifer Lopez shared her emotional struggle as her twins Max and Emme prepare to leave for college

• “People have come in and out of my life, but it’s been the three of us. They’ve always been there, and I’ve always been there,” Lopez said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
• Max and Emme, whom Lopez shares with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, will head off to college in August

Jennifer Lopez isn't ready to become an empty nester.

During the Monday, June 8, episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the singer, 56, opened up about her children preparing to go to college following their recent high school graduation. She shares 18-year-old twins, Max and Emme, with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.

Lopez spoke candidly to host Andy Cohen about her children leaving home in a couple of months.

“It's an emotional time. It's been the three of us,” she said. “People have come in and out of my life, but it's been the three of us. They've always been there, and I've always been there.”

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The Office Romance star emphasized that she's grateful for the “village” that has helped her to juggle motherhood with work, while expressing that she hadn't imagined a time when things would change.

“I just never thought they would not be there,” she said, referring to Max and Emme. “I just never thought that far ahead. I thought, too, that they're so independent. I've given them roots and wings.”

“[I thought], ‘It's great, this is how it is … this is a healthy mom thing to do.' And then about a couple of months ago, I just was like writing something for their end-of-the-school-year thing for them to put in the program at the graduation, and I just have not … every time it comes up, I just start crying. I could cry right now.”

When Cohen, 58, asked for parenting advice to avoid spoiling children, Lopez revealed a lesson she's taught that will help Max and Emme thrive in their college years.

“They do what they see you do. It's not so much what you tell them all the time,” said the “On the Floor” singer. “Even though I'm trying to download everything I've ever learned in my life, every lesson I've ever [learned], to them right now before they leave in August … I still feel like who you are as a person, how you act, what they see you do, if you work hard, they become more hard workers.”

“They mimic you in this weird way and learn from you, even though they act like they're opposite [to] you,” she continued. “My kids [are like], ‘I don't want to be anything like you. I want to have my own path.' They see this persona and it's such a thing, But I also see them … not mimic, but just pick up things that are the good traits about you.”

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Lopez recently revealed in an interview with Extra that Max and Emme's hard work resulted in them getting into every college they applied to and receiving scholarships.

"I am so proud that they set goals for themselves," she said. "They all got into all five colleges that they applied to. They both got a scholarship to each, you know, one scholarship to each. Each one got a scholarship to a school. And I just felt like they work so hard. "

"I watched how hard they worked, from the time they were like … when school gets serious in the fifth grade, and they just worked hard," she continued. "They have ADHD, and so they need to learn differently, and there were struggles and times, and I'm just so proud of them because they did what they said they were going to do, and they're good people."

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