LOPEZ QUITTING AMERICAN IDOL

Jennifer Lopez made it official today — one day after Steven Tyler announced that he had decided to leave American Idol and rejoin Aerosmith: She, too will be leaving, she told Ryan Seacrest on his synidcated radio show, On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Lopez, who, like Tyler, joined the show two years ago, sounded emotional, as she told Seacrest that she had originally signed on to do the hit talent show for just one year. “And I wound up doing two years because I just so fell in love with the show, everybody there, you guys. You know that. I never felt so much part of a family of something, working on it, as I did with Idol..” But she said that in her second year, she was so intensely occupied with her singing and acting career that all of her activities were taking too much time away from her children “Something has to give,” she told Seacrest, “and that’s where I am right now.” When Seacrest then pressed her by asking, “Does that mean we’re co-workers or not?” she replied, “You know, I was really dreading this phone call with you. … I honestly feel that the time has come, that I really have to get back to doing the other things that I have to do that I kind of put on hold because I love Idol so much.” Saying that she had had “an amazing run” on the show, Lopez seemed overwhelmed with emotion as she remarked, “It’s really going to be hard to go.” Seacrest, the host of Idol for 11 years, maintains a schedule that may be even more demanding than his colleagues’ on the show. (Besides his Idol role and his radio show, he is a special correspondent for the Today show and the summer Olympics, conducts interviews on the red carpet at numerous Hollywood functions, including the Oscars, holds the post of managing editor an lead anchor of E! News, and hosts the long-running radio show American Top 40.) But while there remains considerable speculation that Randy Jackson will also depart, he gave no hint in his interview with Lopez that he is also entertaining the thought of chucking it in.

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