Jennifer Lopez, the woman who stars alongside Iggy Azalea in a sexy music video called "Booty," has suffered, surprisingly, from low self-esteem. But as the singer/actress told Maria Shriver in the second part of her TODAY interview Tuesday, understanding how to love herself proved to be a big turning point.
Here are the highlights from Shriver's chat with the superstar entertainer, whose new book, "True Love," is out today:
On whether she could see herself losing confidence as she became more famous:
"Oh yeah. It was so funny, 'cause when you first come on the scene, you feel so indestructible, you're like, 'Oh I can do this, I can't wait to see what everybody sees what I can do!' And then you become a big enough star where they start tryin' to tear you down a bit, you know what I mean? You become a target. And you start being really harsh and judgmental on yourself ... it can be, you know, damaging."
Jennnifer Lopez deals with whether she is worthy of love
On how being a judge on 'American Idol' helped ground her:
"It was the first time I had no lines, I had no song to sing, I had no performance. It was just, 'Jen, just be you, tell us how you feel, what you think.' And people saw that and they liked it, and that touched me, 'cause I'd spent so much time thinking they didn't like me."
'They save me': Jennifer Lopez on the love she gets from her kids
On how the woman in the 'Booty' video could possibly have esteem issues:
"That was something that I felt like, 'Do I do this?' But I thought, you know what? The girl I'm standing next to in the video is 20 years old. I'm not. This is great for women to see. It makes me crazy that people try to put women in a box, or try to say, if you're a mom, you can't do this, or if you're sexy, then you're not smart. Yes, I can be an awesome mom, and I can be a sexy woman and I can be a smart businessperson. I can do all of it. Just let me. Mama's still got it!"
Read an excerpt from 'True Love' by Jennifer Lopez
On whether she has learned to forgive herself:
"It's easy, so easy to beat yourself up, especially when you have kids and you see them sad or missing their dad. And it's easy to go, 'I messed up, I made the wrong choice. I did this. I did that.' And you have to be easy on yourself. Nobody's perfect. I fall down, I get back up, that's it, and I keep going. You know what, I have bumps and bruises, but I'm still here."