Jennifer Lopez Isn't "Forcing" Alex Rodriguez Into Marriage

Jennifer Lopez isn't in the rush to walk down the aisle...again.

The thrice-married singer opens up in the April issue of Harper's Bazaar about why she's taking her time with Alex Rodriguez, whom she's been dating for a little over a year. "I do believe in marriage, and I would love to grow old with somebody in a committed relationship. But I'm not forcing anything right now. It's good, it's healthy; we communicate well. We understand each other's lives in a way that most other people couldn't. We both entered the public eye in our early 20s and overachieved right from the start. And that affects every dynamic in your life, from your family to your work to your relationships," she explains. "We have a similar makeup."

But they do have some differences. "He sports-metaphors me to death, and now I do it to everyone else," Lopez confesses. "Baseball is just like life. All you want to do is hit a home run."

And whether it's through her performances or her productions, Lopez hits a lot of home runs. Lopez has no qualms about listing her professional strengths ("great performer, great actress, great producer") or her personal strengths ("great mother, great sister and a great girlfriend"). But when she was younger and less confident, she says, "I spent a lot of time being half happy and half not happy." Now that she's older and more assertive, "I know who I am and what I want. I also know my strengths and weaknesses. It took me a long time to get to a point where I could say something nice about myself," she tells Harper's Bazaar. "I'm glad I can do that now."

A self-described "workaholic," she admits, "My instinct is to fill every single minute of my life with work, so I've had to learn balance. When you take on too much, that can be the enemy of great." Her motivation comes from never being "one of those media darlings," Lopez explains. "I didn't get kissed into this business. I'm from the Bronx. I had to find my way, so I've always felt like I had to prove myself. Maybe that's a good drive to have. I never settle for mediocre."
Source: eonline