Jennifer Lopez’s Parents: Everything to Know About Her Mom & Dad

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Image Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Jennifer Lopez, 53, is known for being extremely family-oriented and is public about her relationship with both of her parents. The singer was born on July 24, 1969, to both Guadalupe Rodriguez and David Lopez. Guadalupe and David raised “Jenny From The Block” in New York City, with a Puerto Rican upbringing.

In her new documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Jennifer reflected on her childhood in the Bronx, and admitted she didn’t feel loved because she felt her mom was “narcissistic” and her dad was absent. “When I was growing up I was always looking for somebody to make me feel loved,” she said. “I was a middle child, not the baby, not the first born … you just kind of get lost a little bit in between it all,” she added, referring to her sisters Leslie, 56, and Lynda, 52.

“I felt very ignored by my dad because he was always working nights then all day he would sleep and I didn’t feel like I had enough of a connection with him,” she continued. “My mom was narcissistic, center of the attention, life of the party-type person.”

Keep reading to learn more about Jennifer’s mom and dad below.

Guadalupe Rodriguez

Jennifer Lopez and her mom Guadalupe Rodriguez on stage together. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)

Guadalupe and JLo are very close — so close that the singer is often posting about her adorable mama on social media. The matriarch of JLo’s family was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and is also the mother to JLo’s sisters Leslie, and Lynda. Guadalupe had a humble upbringing, and she worked hard to ensure her kids had a great life. In her younger years, she made a living by selling Tupperware and working at a school, The US Sun reported.

JLo’s mom found love when she met David, and from then on she became a full-time homemaker for their family. David and Guadalupe raised their three daughters in a small apartment in the Castle Hill neighborhood in the South Central Section of the Bronx. Now, she is often seen on her daughter’s Instagram spending quality time with the family including her two grandkids, twins Emme and Maximilian Muñiz, 14.

In May 2021, Guadalupe even appeared in a campaign for Jennifer’s skincare line, JLo Beauty. In the video, Jennifer boasted about her loving mom. “It was my mom who instilled in us at a very young age that we could do anything,” she said. “This was something that has really stayed with me.”

Jennifer opened up about how as a mother to teens she’s able to relate to her mother on a different level in a May 2023 interview on The View. She revealed that she had a new “appreciation” for being mom, while looking back on some memories from her own childhood. “I remember this about my mom,” she said. “I remember my mom saying to me, ‘I’m always the bad guy! I’m always the bad guy! I gotta discipline you guys! I gotta do this! I gotta do that!’ And there is some truth to that.”

She continued speaking about how she now sees her own kids differentiating from her in a similar way that she didi as a kid. “The mom, you get a little bit of the brunt of it,” she said on The View. “You’re like, ‘Oh, this is what she was talking about!’ This is the time, where your kids don’t want to talk to you, and they’re kind of individuating from you, and it’s all necessary, and intellectually, I understand it, but my heart!”

In her 2024 documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Jennifer described the tough parts about her mom and how she dealt with it. “My mom is a super complicated woman and she carries a lot of baggage, she wanted us to be independent and never have to rely on a man,” she explained in the feature. “She did what she had to do to survive, and it made her strong, but it also made her tough. She beat the sh*t out of us.”

She also confirmed that she and her mom took a “break” from each other when she decided to go against her mom’s wishes and not go to college. “I wanted to try dance full time … I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio. I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do,’” she recalled.

She went on to confirm that despite all the hardships, she is now on good terms with both of her parents.

David Lopez

Jennifer Lopez and her dad David Lopez at her 2002 restaurant opening. (Wintersteller/BEI/Shutterstock)

Jennifer’s father, David, has been by his daughter’s side through many of her accomplishments. And although David is much more private and out of the spotlight than his wife, Jennifer is still very public about her admiration for her papa. Back in 2016, Jennifer shared a sweet birthday Instagram post of David. She captioned the post, “Happy Birthday to this amazing man who raised me into the person I am today and who showed me unconditional love truly exists!!!”

In his younger years, David worked at the Guardian Insurance Company before he eventually became a computer technician at the firm. David has always been supportive of his daughter’s singing career. He even stood by her at her 2013 Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony, along with her family.

Back in 2007, Jennifer spoke to CBS about her dad, specifically his religion of Scientology. “My dad has been a Scientologist for 20 years. He’s the best man that I know in my life and so, it’s weird to me that people want to paint it in a negative way,” she said.

It’s safe to say that Jennifer and her family are one tight-knit group!