After weeks of speculation – and some heavy hinting Jennifer Lopez confirmed on Friday that she’s leaving “American Idol.”
The 42-year-old actress/singer and mom to four-year-old twins Max and Emme told “Idol” host ryan Seacrest on his radio show that she had to take something off her plate, and it looks like that thing is “American Idol.”
 “I honestly feel like the time has come, that I have to get back to doing the other things that I do that I’ve put kind of on hold because I love ‘Idol’ so much,” she explained. “I could just keep doing ‘Idol’ for the rest of my life, but that would be giving up a bunch of other things. I feel like we had an amazing run.”
Lopez, who has served as an “Idol” judge for two seasons, reiterated how difficult a choice this was for her. “It’s been a long thought process … I really have been torn,” she told Seacrest, adding later, “It’s really going to be hard for me to go.”
“I have my movies and music and my this and that … and it just gets more complicated, as the kids get a little bigger. It started feeling like it was a lot, and something had to give. And that’s, I think, where I am right now.”
Just yesterday, Lopez’s fellow idol judge Steven Tyler announced he was leaving the show to focus on his music. (CNN)
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