Sitting in an overheated hotel suite on a freezing cold day in London, Jennifer Lopez calmly surveys the frantic activity around her. To her left there's a stylist rifling through the rails of designer dresses; to her right is a publicist who's spent the past half hour trying to sort out a schedule for the next couple of days

In between, a multitude of record company executives are scurrying around like ants, making arrangements for cars, reservations and, um, mint tea. We've seen busy before, but this is taking it to another level.

Reproduced from February 08 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. This month's issue on sale now.

'It's mad, isn't it?' laughs Jennifer.

We've been here for just 10 minutes, but it's clear after about one minute that there's a different air to Jennifer. She's no longer JLo the diva, who, if you believed the hype, used to require rose petals were to be strewn in her hotel room. Nor is she Jenny 'from the block', the supposed down-to-earth street kid who was really no different from the rest of us - despite the estimated £55 million fortune. She's not even Jen 'the superstar other half' who had ill-fated romances with P Diddy and Ben Affleck and two ultra-short marriages (to waiter Ojani Noa and dancer Cris Judd).

Nope, this is plain old Jennifer, dressed down in jeans and a cashmere jumper. What you see is what you get. And unless you've been hiding behind a rock, you'll know why: now married to singer Marc Anthony, Jennifer is finally - after three years of trips to specialists and major life changes - pregnant. She's over the moon.

'Yes, it's true,' she smiles. 'And I can't tell you how happy I am. I feel like a different person already. Marc is so excited, too.'

The couple, who tied the knot in 2004, had been trying for a baby for years, but had to overcome various difficulties, which finally resulted in IVF. But with JLo due to give birth (to twins, according to press stories), 2008 is already shaping up to be the best year of their lives.

Here, 38-year-old JLo opens up about love, putting her past behind her, and what the future holds for her and Marc.

Congratulations!

Jennifer Lopez: 'Thank you! I'm really happy. I've never made any secret of the fact that I want children - this is a special time for us.'

It must be a huge relief for you after three years of trying.

Jennifer Lopez: 'When Marc and I first got married, my mother rang me every day asking if there was any news. I come from a big Latino family where it's all about having children. So the pressure was huge from the start.'

You purposely didn't announce the news until you were five months pregnant. That must have been hard...

Jennifer Lopez: [Laughs] 'Believe me, it was! But I know people have criticised me a lot in the past for talking about my personal life openly, and I'm the first to admit it's taken me a long time to get the balance right - I've learnt not to reveal too much.'

Do you think your success came at the cost of your personal life in the past?

Jennifer Lopez: 'I think I was so hungry to succeed that when fame first started to happen for me, I just kept going and going. I was singing, I was acting, I was in the fashion world and I was flying all over the place with no rest and no time for either myself or the people I wanted to be with. I was on this spinning carousel.

It was all a bit mad so I had to get off that ride and make big changes to my life. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself, because for a girl like me from the Bronx, wearing gorgeous clothes and having all that attention was just amazing. It was like being a princess. But...'

But it didn't make you happy?

Jennifer Lopez: [Long pause] 'Well, it didn't take me long to realise that sort of fame can be scary. The more the circus builds up around you, the more you start to lose what got you there in the first place. For me, it was always about being a good performer and working hard, doing movies and making music. But that began to get lost in all the crazy stuff. I stopped being myself and believing in the things I'd always believed in. I felt as if I was the same person on the inside but the outside was so different.'

Was this at the same time as all the so-called 'diva demands'?

Jennifer Lopez: [Laughs] 'All that diva stuff was just so unreal. I never made demands like that. I would never ask for rooms to be painted white and I don't even know how to count the threads on sheets! [One of Jennifer's most widely reported 'demands' is that her hotel beds have to have Egyptian cotton sheets with a count of at least 250 threads per square inch of fabric.] Sometimes you can get stuck in a world and you don't know how to get out because it's all so crazy. But you learn - boy, do you learn. Hey, I'm the Queen of Mistakes!'

Let's talk love. You've had a couple of high-profile relationships that have ended in disaster. What makes you so sure about this one?

Jennifer Lopez: 'Marc's known me for years. We've always kept in touch. He's seen me through every stage, in good times and bad, and he was always just there. He was my friend first and he knew me as his friend. He knew my family. It was a relationship that developed slowly but on very solid foundations.'

So that's the key - slow but steady?

Jennifer Lopez: 'What I know is that after I married Marc, I wanted to take stock of my life and make my marriage work. 'JLo the diva' made a conscious effort to become 'Jennifer the wife'. And I had to give this love a chance to really grow, without being swamped by the whole celebrity circus.'

What have you learnt about love over the years?

Jennifer Lopez: 'When you're very young, you think it's all about the big dramatic stuff - the diamonds, the excitement, that sort of thing. As you get older, you realise what keeps a relationship together are the more humdrum things.'

We can't imagine you doing 'humdrum'!

Jennifer Lopez: 'Honestly, I've spent years at the most glamorous parties but at home I don't dress up. It feels amazing to have these nights at home with my husband. I wanted to stay in and cook for him. I wanted to be there when he came home. I put aside all thoughts of 'I must do this' and 'I must do that' and focused on what was real in my life.'

We hear you're a pretty good cook now...

Jennifer Lopez: 'Yes, I do lots of Italian and Puerto Rican dishes. For me, a romantic night in is cooking a meal for Marc, lighting a big log fire, and then cuddling up together and watching television - we're both totally hooked on Grey's Anatomy.'

How do you think motherhood will change your outlook on life?

Jennifer Lopez: 'I don't know about motherhood, but certainly being this happy has changed me. I feel so much more creative about music - now if people criticise my music it doesn't bother me because it's not the only thing in my life. I wake up and I don't groan, thinking of all the things I need to do. I'm just happy.'

Wow! You really are a walking advert for pregnancy. What's next?

Jennifer Lopez: 'I've finished my [En Concierto] tour with Marc and we plan to go away and have time alone as a family. I don't want to sound corny, but I honestly never knew I could be so happy.'

Reproduced from February 08 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. This month's issue on sale now.