Jennifer Lopez thinks her curvy figure "broke the mould" for other female actresses.

She said: "In traditional movies, that wasn't the figure unless you were playing, like, the femme fatale or the bombshell or something like that. You couldn't be the serious lead.

"We kind of broke that mould."

The singer-and-actress admits work dried up for her after she tied the knot to her now-ex Marc Anthony in 2004 and gave birth to twins Max and Emme in 2008, but she was determined to become more successful than she was before.

She added: "Even later on, after I got married and had kids and it was a slow time for me work-wise -- I pulled back and I was working on my marriage and I was being a mom and all that - I didn't feel like, 'Oh, what is my life?! Who am I right now?! Am I still that entertainer?'

"I realised, 'Yeah, you're gonna be even better than you were before. Watch.' Those are the kind of talks that I had with myself."

However, Jennifer admits fame has started to "bother" her more as she has aged.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she added: "As I get older it bothers me more. When you're young it's like a shock at first, and you kind of have anxiety about it, but then you get used to that life and it just becomes your normal life.

"And now? I think when I had kids and stuff, I was like - I wanted a little more freedom to go outside and not have them have to deal with that part of it."