Jennifer Lopez and her husband of six weeks, singer Marc Anthony, have been almost stubborn about not sharing their new happiness with the public: Neither has, as yet, even acknowledged that they tied the knot in L.A. on June 5. At home, though, their romance even has a musical soundtrack. "He soothes her by grabbing a guitar and singing to her in Spanish," says a friend of the couple's. "She's smiling, giggling the whole time. She hums along. It's almost like background music while they are talking." Lopez, the friend adds, "is going full guns all the time, and she never takes a minute to stop and smell the roses. Marc allows her to take that minute."
Apparently, he'd like her to take much more than a minute. Having witnessed his wife's crazy, pedal-to-the-metal relationship with former fiancé Ben Affleck, "Marc wants nothing to do with the fiasco that was Jennifer's life one year ago," says a friend. This is J.Lo below the radar, trying to keep to a sweet, no-sensationalism diet at their home-"hibernating" with Anthony, says one source, at Lopez's mansion in Los Angeles. "They often curl up together," says the friend. "They're kind of snuggly." When they do go out, it's to a safe haven, like Lopez's Pasadena restaurant, Madre's, where diners recently saw them holding hands-"a firm grip," says an observer. "Jennifer looked radiant."
And Anthony? His sister Yolanda Santa Maria, a stay-at-home mother in Brooklyn, couldn't make the wedding, but when she caught up with Anthony in New York a few days later as he promoted his hit Spanish-language CD Amar Sin Mentiras (To Love Without Lies), "he didn't say a lot about Jennifer, and I didn't ask much," she says. "He just looked at me and said he was ecstatic. To me, as a sister, that is all I need to hear."
Since the wedding, speculation has abounded that Lopez, who'll turn 35 on July 24, is so into settling down that she's already pregnant. One source says Lopez recently broke the news to family members, who include her father, David, mother, Guadalupe, and sister Lynda, a TV entertainment reporter. The family, especially Guadalupe, would be delighted to welcome a grandchild, having already embraced Anthony, 35. "He speaks the same language as Guadalupe," a member of the Lopez camp says of Anthony, who like Lopez is of Puerto Rican descent. "Culturally they come from the same background. I don't think you can underestimate that."
Others close to the couple say they have seen no indication of a baby on the way. "She's not showing or doing anything different," says one source. Says Anthony's sister: "He hasn't told me anything. I might not even know until the rest of the world does, because he wants to keep his privacy." And one man well acquainted with her figure, her personal trainer, Gunnar Peterson, reports that the abs remain flat and flawless. "She's not changing up her workouts-it's all status quo. She's still pounding it out every morning."
Her marriage already is giving her a taste of parenting. Anthony's 11-year-old daughter Arianna (mom is ex-girlfriend Debbie Rosado, 34, a former New York City policewoman, with whom he shares custody) has spent several weeks with the couple in L.A. this summer. Arianna, who often came with her dad to visit Lopez on the set of her movie Monster-in-Law, "is a sweet, just incredibly intelligent little girl" who stays glued to her father's side, says a source. "They are completely a family. Completely tight."
The same can't be said yet of Anthony's two sons with former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, 29, whom he divorced five days before marrying Lopez. One source says Lopez hasn't yet spent any quality time with Cristian, 3, and Ryan, 11 months, but according to the divorce settlement, the kids will be spending alternate holidays, school breaks and birthdays with Anthony. As Torres told PEOPLE EN ESPAÑOL shortly before their divorce settlement, "My children will always be a part of his life."
Being a wife and stepmom means Lopez is no longer the girl who went club-hopping with Sean Combs and teased the world with her on-again, off-again nuptials to Affleck, her costar in the famously forgettable Gigli. And that's fine by her. "I think that 'Bennifer' changed her life," says a friend. "I think she feels that Bennifer, which she was partially responsible for, hurt her career." (The feeling may well be mutual. As Affleck's best buddy, Matt Damon, recently told Playboy, "Ben got killed [by the press] because he was in a high-profile relationship. It was absolutely destroying his career. He stayed in it because he loved her.") She has also pruned some of her old glamorous extracurriculars from the Bennifer era, like public excursions to buy Bentleys. These days "she doesn't go shopping-definitely not," says an insider. "If she needs things, she has shoppers who know what she's looking for, and they'll run out and grab it."
Though Anthony and Lopez will be collaborating on a biopic of salsa singer Hector Lavoe (he's starring; she's producing), which begins production at the end of the year, don't count on the rise of Gigli 2, much less Jennimarc. "Marc is really private," says a source close to the couple, "and I think it is rubbing off on her."
Supported by a tight crew-including her mom, her longtime bodyguard, her driver and her cousin Tiana Rios, who serves as her assistant-Lopez juggles her workaholic schedule: at the gym by 5 a.m.; on the set of Monster-in-Law most of the day; then into the studio to work on a new album after hours. Anthony, who is helping her with the record, is almost always at her side. "They are pretty much inseparable," says a source on the Monster-in-Law set. "He's almost always there. He just chills out on the set, and everyone cracks jokes and sits back in between takes and makes fun of things." Says producer Chris Bender: "She's thrilled when he's around."
But she's happy to let Anthony-who has a new salsa album due this month-do his own thing too. "She is also not the girlfriend who nags you to cut the lawn on a Saturday, she is not a girlfriend who nags you not to drink," says a source. "She likes her men to be men."
One gauge of the new Jennifer will be how she celebrates her 35th birthday on July 24. Will it be an over-the-top bash like the one Sean Combs threw for her in Manhattan in 2000, complete with humongous cake? Or will the evening kick off with an entrance in a Rolls-Royce and a new diamond bracelet, like her 34th birthday with Affleck in 2002? Or something smaller, more intimate, a la Marc? "I bet she has it low-key," says a friend. "They don't really care where they are, as long as they are with each other."
Jennifer Inc.
Lingerie Experts estimate her new collection of bras and panties, which will hit department stores like Macy's July 24, could rack up $50 million in sales in its first year.
Perfumes "She has a very good nose," said one perfume executive of the star's participation in creating her two scents, Glow and Still. A third launches in 2005.
Russian Store Her clothing-perfume empire ('03 sales: $250 million) has a new flagship in a Moscow mall. "If it works here, it can work anywhere," said the mall's codirector.
Madre's Lopez has admitted she can cook "only some" of the Cuban- and Puerto Rican-influenced foods in her restaurant in Pasadena, Calif.
