Jennifer Lopez Gets Emotional as 17-Year-Old Emme Starts Senior Year

Jennifer Lopez can’t believe how big her “little coconuts” are getting.

The singer and actress, 56, shared an emotional post via Instagram Stories on Monday, August 25, as she dropped one of her 17-year-old twins, Emme, off for the first day of senior year of high school. (Lopez also shares son Max with ex-husband Marc Anthony.)

“I just dropped off this little coconut to their first day of senior year,” Lopez wrote over a throwback photo of herself with Emme. “Looking back at this photo from a few years ago, it just reminds me that they’ll always be my beautiful baby!”

Lopez added four black heart emojis over the picture before sharing another snap of a breakfast plate with “Senior Year!” spelled out in chocolate.

Lopez also shared another snap with Emme via Instagram as they rode in the back seat of her vocal coach Stevie Mackey‘s car while in the Hamptons. “Le Sunshine ☀️,” she captioned the post, which also featured photos of Lopez posing on a bicycle.

Although she tends to keep her children out of the spotlight, the “Let’s Get Loud” singer has opened up about the profound effect motherhood has had on her.

“I’ve been a single mom at times in my life, and [I’ve asked], ‘Am I enough for them?'” Lopez told Entertainment Weekly while promoting her film Unstoppable in 2024. “And the truth is, all you need is really one good parent to love you.”

Lopez admitted that she’s been through a rough time as of late following her divorce from Ben Affleck and her canceled tour in 2024. She assured Emme and Max, however, that the experiences would only make her — and them — stronger.

“I had a really tough year. Unexpected things happened,” Lopez said in a new interview with El Pais in May. “And so, I read a lot of books. I did a lot of self-introspection. I did meditation. I prayed a lot. I wanted to improve my relationship with God. I wanted to kind of really solidify the family unit that is me and my two children, my twins.”

She continued, “I said, ‘I promise you, this is a difficult time, but you’re going to see that I’ll come out the other side stronger and better.’ I promised them that and I did it. And they feel it now. That gives me a great sense of peace in my life.”

Lopez also opened up about being a working mom and how the balance of career and parenthood definitely took a toll on her family unit over the years.

“They probably didn’t get as much of me as they wanted, right? Because when you’re a working mom — and so many working moms out there know this — you always have that guilt. ‘I should have been around more. I shouldn’t have left at all. I should’ve just stayed home,’” she told the outlet. “But they got the experience that they got. And you always do your best as a mom.”

As they prepare to head to college next year, Lopez said she’s thankful she had quality time with her kids — and that they got to experience her career’s highs and lows.

“Looking back on it, it was an amazing experience. And I was glad that I was able to take them around the world. They were on tour with me. They would go to American Idol with me,” she recalled, adding of the last few years, “I’m proud that I was able to navigate my children through difficult times, that they’re stronger and better because of it.”