15 APRIL 2002
Singer-turned-actress Jennifer Lopez has added one more skill to her CV – restaurateur. The Angel Eyes star celebrated the opening of Madre’s, her Latin-themed Pasadena, California, eatery on Friday, with some special celebrity guests including Nicole Kidman and actor Ben Affleck.

“This is my first kind of solo project without help from anybody around me,” said Jennifer at the star-studded ribbon-cutting. “It was my own idea and my own thing I wanted to do. And I’m really, really emotional and excited right now. This is a big night for me.”

J Lo says the Cuban and Puerto Rican dishes at Madre’s – 'madre' is Spanish for mother – are “the food I grew up with”, and she decorated the 170-seat restaurant with antiques, chandeliers and lace for a cosy ambiance. “I wanted it to feel like your mom’s house, where you get good cooking and it feels nice when you’re inside,” she says. “It’s a place for people in the neighbourhood to come and hang out.”

Hanging out with the diva on her big night were US chat show host Jay Leno and LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant, and Brooke Shields, who recently annouced she is pregnant with her first child.

Though J Lo says she plans to make frequent appearances at her homestyle restaurant, don’t expect her to be in the kitchen – she admits she can cook only “some stuff on the menu”.