J.Lo Credits Herself for Twins' College Success, Takes a Dig at Marc Anthony

During a recent appearance on the“Smartless”podcast, Jennifer Lopez opened up about parenting her 18-year-old twins, Emme and Max, with refreshing honesty—and what sounds like a pointed reminder to their father about who did most of the heavy lifting.

The 56-year-old actress and singer was celebrating a genuinely proud-parent milestone: both of her children got into their colleges of choice and earned scholarships to boot. But Lopez didn’t just sit back and enjoy the moment quietly. Instead, she gave herself a well-deserved pat on the back while hinting pretty clearly that she carried the load alone. In her words on the Monday, June 15 episode, she told herself:“You did that s*** all by yourself. That’s great. Like,‘You had very little help,’you know?”

The comment landed like a subtle but unmistakable jab at Marc Anthony, her ex-husband and the twins’father. The pair were married from 2004 until their 2011 separation, finalizing their divorce three years later. While they’ve publicly maintained an amicable co-parenting relationship over the years—and Anthony has said in past interviews that he remained“close”to Lopez and“proud of her”—Lopez’s latest remarks suggest the division of labor in raising their kids may have felt lopsided from her perspective.

What makes this moment noteworthy isn’t just the shade; it’s the timing and framing. Lopez has spent years carefully managing her public narrative around the split, telling W magazine back in 2016 that she had to work hard to forgive and move forward for the sake of her children. Yet here she is, a decade later, letting the world know exactly who deserves the credit for Emme and Max’s achievements. It’s a reminder that even amicable splits come with unspoken resentments, and that a mother’s work raising successful kids often goes publicly unacknowledged—until she decides to acknowledge it herself.

The question isn’t whether Lopez and Anthony can co-parent peacefully (they’ve proven they can). It’s whether audiences are ready to hear women take full credit for their sacrifices without waiting for permission or validation.