Leaving kids behind for work is hard: Jennifer Lopez

Pop diva and actress Jennifer Lopez, who is mother to two-year-old twins hates to leave her kids home for work.

Los Angeles: Pop diva and actress Jennifer Lopez, who is mother to two-year-old twins with husband Marc Anthony, hates to leave her kids home for work.

"It`s hard handle the pressures of parenting and maintaining a career. The twins are at the point right now where, just in the past few days, they come to the door and start yelling, `No, mommy, don`t go!` I was like, `Oh, this is bad. This is tough`," Lopez said. The 40-year-old actress, who made a comeback to the big screen after three years with Sony Picture`s romantic comedy `The Back-Up Plan`, also had a tough time shedding the pounds after giving birth. "The first few pounds drop off really fast, and then you`re stuck with those last 10-20 pounds. And then, you`ve really got to get disciplined, diet and exercise. I knew I had the movie coming. You really start having to think about those things because, being on camera, you have a responsibility to look good. If you don`t, you`ll hear about it," said Lopez. Co-starring Alex O`Loughlin, the film has Lopez play the role of a single woman named Zoe, a stubborn pet shop owner in her 30s who is determined to quit waiting for Mr Right and start a family via insemination. The film released in India last Friday. Lopez says she is quite opposite to her onscreen persona and dreads the idea of being alone living all by herself and still be comfortable. "Zoe and I are so opposite. She was comfortable being alone because of having lost her parents so early, and I`m so uncomfortable being alone. It was funny because, in a sense, it made me admire this person. I loved playing her because I envy people like this," Lopez said in a statement. The `Wedding Planner` star also confessed that she could never be a single mother as she lacks the courage to bring up a child without a partner. "Honestly, I have so much respect for single moms, or anybody who finds themselves a single mother. To choose to be a single mother is just so courageous to me. It is such a hard job to raise a child and to be everything to that child without a partner. I don`t know if I could do it on my own. I really don`t," said Lopez. She has no regrets about the course her life has taken and would not want to change anything about it. Also becoming a mother has given her a fresh start, as Lopez feels she is beginning a new life alongwith her kids. "I really love the direction my life has taken. I feel now like I`m 25 again and that it`s all starting over. With the babies, they just make you feel like your life is just beginning. It`s like, `Okay, this is the start of something awesome`. That`s how I feel in my life, and in my career, right now," said Lopez. PTI