Lopez Wants To Put Focus Back On Her Career

NEW YORK (AP) - While other celebrities have taken pains to keep their public life under wraps, Jennifer Lopez always seemed to relish the white-hot spotlight.

Whether she was frolicking with Ben Affleck in a music video, wearing a barely there outfit to drive the paparazzi wild or gushing about her latest love in a magazine, Lopez was willing to let the public share in her private life.

"I grew up in New York and was very out there and outgoing. One of my main things was I'm not going to let this business change me, you know what I mean?" explains the Bronx-bred Lopez, 34. "That was always one of my mantras."

Today, though, as Lopez promotes her fashion line and new album, "Rebirth," she's sticking by a new mantra - keep her private life private. It took her eight months to finally acknowledge her June wedding to singer-actor Marc Anthony, and she still won't talk about it. Instead, Lopez is trying to put the focus back on her career.

"I don't want to talk about anything that is personal or private at all, because what's the use? You're open with people, and then they try and make a soap opera out of your life," Lopez said.

"Then it's not about your work anymore, it's not about the movie you're promoting or the record you hope your fans will enjoy, it becomes about other silly stuff and it's damaging, . . . not just to your career, but your person."

For a while, Lopez's stardom seemed to grow in tandem with her tabloid persona. She sold millions of albums, had No. 1 hits and enjoyed box-office success with movies such as "Maid in Manhattan." The public became more interested in J.Lo - the woman dating and breaking up with P. Diddy, embarking on another quickie marriage or setting fashion trends.

But her image started to suffer in 2003, when Lopez was in the midst of a very public romance with Affleck. The couple's overexposure, followed by the release of their bomb "Gigli," drew both more scorn than anything. Though the couple split and Lopez later married Anthony - her third husband - the sting from the tabloid attention still lingers.

"I think it got really loud for a minute for me, and it became not about my work anymore. And the reason why I was in the public eye to begin with is because I was in movies, I was making records," she said. "And all of a sudden it wasn't anything about that. And I didn't want it to be about anything else but that."

So Lopez took a six-month break from Hollywood last year to regroup.

Lopez - who has released three albums and been in five movies in the past three years - felt like she was jamming out projects instead of spending time to reflect on what was right for her.

She made sure her fourth studio album, "Rebirth," didn't suffer from those circumstances. The star spent several months on it and had a greater role in its production - which boosted her confidence.

Rich Harrison, who produced Lopez's single "Get Right," said the hits Lopez have taken have only made her stronger.