Jennifer Lopez On Marriage: '‘You Have To Fight For Relationships In This Business’

First Published: March 31, 2010 10:52 AM EDT Credit: WireImage

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez arrive at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in HollywoodJennifer Lopez is about to hit theaters in “The Back-Up Plan,” a movie about finding Mr. Right at the wrong time, but in her own life, the actress is happily married to singer Marc Anthony. Although the couple has been married for nearly six years, Jennifer admitted maintaining a relationship isn’t a piece of cake, especially in Hollywood.

“It’s a lot of work,” she told Access Hollywood’s Tony Potts at the junket for her new film. “We (Jennifer and Marc) were talking about this the other day when we were hearing stories about other people in Hollywood and what they’re going through at this moment and I… was like, ‘Gosh, you have to fight for relationships in this business! You really do! And he’s like ‘You gotta fight.’”

Jennifer added that in Hollywood, a couple has extra pressures on their relationship.

“It’s just not easy. It’s not easy,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in the periphery and entertainment and what’s available and all kinds of things… It’s hard… But you have to make that conscious decision. It’s like, ‘Are we going to work on this? Or are we just going to walk away?’ And, you know, we have kids and we have to work on it.”

The actress, whose relationship history has been well documented in the media, including her romances with Ben Affleck and Sean “Diddy” Combs (then known as “Puffy”), and marriages to waiter Ojani Noa (in 1997) and dancer Chris Judd (in 2001), said she’s changed her perspective on how to make a romantic partnership work.

“There was a time where – ‘cause I’ve been married twice before, I mean it’s no big secret and there’s a time when I was… like, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna work on this. This is not for me. I’m leaving,’” Jennifer said. “The truth is, you get to a certain point in your life where you’re like, ‘Am I ever going to work really hard at this part of my life or am I just going to keep bouncing around?’ And you have to make that decision at a certain point. So I understand that certain way of thinking, completely.”

The megastar compared her real life romance with that of her “Back-Up Plan” character, Zoe, who had to go through many suitors before finding her soul mate, played by Australian hunk Alex O’Loughlin.

“It’s like the movie… My character Zoe has met people that she loved and was with and stuff like that,” Jennifer explained. “You have to find the right kind of match at the right time. It’s just not as simple as everyone makes it out to be.”

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