What Role Did 'American Idol' Success Play in Jennifer Lopez's Divorce?

COMMENTARY | Reports out of Hollywood Tuesday morning indicate that Jennifer Lopez will receive her $20 million deal to return to "American Idol" for a second season. Lopez feels she is worth it, and wouldn't stick around for anything less.

Lisa Robinson of Vanity Fair reports:

"I think I'm a really great performer," Lopez said. "I think I'm a really great actress. I feel confident in those things, that's a better way to say it. I'm not as gifted a vocalist as some of the girls that are out there, but I know I communicate."

But is Lopez worth $20 million to judge singers for another year on "Idol"? Fox apparently thinks so. The star admitted she had been "on the fence" about coming back to the show for its 11th season, but the big money appears to have lured her to return.

Lopez also talked about the reason for her divorce from husband Marc Anthony in the tell-all interview with Vanity Fair. The singer/actor said she finally "loved herself enough to walk away" and the decision was "the hardest decision I've ever had to face."

Lopez admitted that balancing her work and personal life wasn't easy, stating, "..it's getting increasingly harder. When we were [first] married, most of the time, and even before the babies were born, we were able to go everywhere together. I wasn't working as much. So we kind of had that. I went on tour with him a few times in the first few years of our marriage, and we did a film [El Cantante] together. It's hard, and we're figuring it out. It's tough."

I may be wrong, but the fact that "Idol" came along about the same time her marriage started to fall apart seems more than coincidental. Though she didn't say the specific reason, Lopez made the comment that after she started working again she and Anthony started fighting about everything.

Lopez says marriage is still her biggest dream, and she remains an eternal optimist when it comes to love, though her career in Hollywood has been much more successful. Her albums and hit singles have sold an incredible 55 million copies.

In addition to "Idol," Lopez has her own Latin TV talent show and two movie projects in the works. It might be hard for her to find time to spend with her two small children, let alone a new love, but the "hopeless and romantic" Lopez will likely find a way to squeeze that in too.

Just prior to the announcement of her divorce, the recording artist found out she will be among the 2012 honorees who will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As she says, "she is determined to move forward with her life; "it appears that Lopez is certainly charging ahead.