J.Lo : It's All About Balance

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez says she has been striving for many years to find balance in her life and believes she may have found it at last.

In a two-part interview with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, Lopez said, "The past couple of years, even further back than that -- five or six years ago -- is when I realized that I needed to find a balance in my life. That it was all about work, all the time, and whatever. And I've been working on that for many years now."

She has a new movie out ("Shall We Dance?" with Richard Gere) and is working on two albums, one in English and one in Spanish, to be released early in the new year.

"I always wanted to do Spanish music," she said. "But when I went to record companies, they're like, 'ou have to do English music. You know? You're, first of all, you're American, too. And you can do this.' But my heart has always been in the Spanish stuff."

That album is being produced by her new husband, Marc Anthony.

"I've been very lucky to secure Marc Anthony in the position of producer for my album," she joked with Smith. "And I'm very excited about that."

What were the negotiations like?

"Not so bad. Not so bad... It was a project he wanted to do," she said. "We've worked together many times. And we've always had...a good chemistry, working together."

She said she is planning to have a family ("This has always been something that's very important to me ") and is waiting for the right time.

"Be it love, kids, you know, the right things for you will happen at the right time for you, when you're ready," she said. "And maybe I just haven't been ready. Maybe I am now. I don't know. We'll see."

After a series of high-profile relationships and even higher profile breakups, Lopez told Smith she's decided to be much more guarded about her personal life.

"I decided that that's the new approach I'm taking," Lopez said in the first part of the interview, broadcast Oct. 15. "It's not about, 'You can't know about me. I don't want anybody in my life.' Uh-huh It's not that. It's just - it's just a quality of life. I'm protecting that which is sacred to you, that which you love. You know?"

The strategy appears to be working. Lopez, whose relationships with such stars as Sean "P.Diddy" Combs and Ben Affleck have been the fodder of tabloid headlines, told Smith her life is "better now than it's been in a long time."

"And I think it's when you go through tough things that, when you come out the other side, when you start - you feel like you never will, but when you do - it's like everything is brighter and clearer than before," she said. "I'm happy that I have love in my life, and health, and family, and - and a great career. I've been lucky enough, even through all of this stuff, to somehow survive. You know? And - and I'm grateful for that."

In her new movie, "Shall We Dance?" which just opened, Lopez plays a dance instructor who teaches Richard Gere about the passion of dancing, after she's closed herself off from her emotional past. She has no dialogue in the early scenes, and must convey emotion with body language and facial expressions.

She says this was no stretch for her, since her emotions often are very close to the surface.

"Oh, God, I can't hide a - a damn thing," she admitted, laughing. "I am misread, though. I am misread. I feel like people, like they look at me, and they go, 'Oh, she's this, and she's that.' And they just so off the mark. So off the mark."

Life under the laser lights of public scrutiny has not always been easy, she said.

"It's not like I don't like the media, or I don't - you- you know? It's not like, I hate - it's not that," she said. "It's just that you want it to be for what it's about. I feel like I want people to know about my art, and what I do. And that's why I do it: to entertain. I'm an entertainer. You know?

"But when it becomes about my personal stuff, then it's not so good," she explained. "And I think that's when it gets muddy, and where you get that perception. It's like, you live in this crazy world. You're right. It is crazy. And it's not comfortable. You know? And you don't feel so comfortable in your own skin anymore. You know? You feel like you're being watched constantly. And for me in the past few years, it like, kinda got out of control."