Jennifer Lopez Defends 18-Year Age Difference With Beau Casper Smart

Don't call J Lo a cougar!

Flaunting her world-famous curves in a stunning red dress, Jennifer Lopez graces the cover of Vogue's April issue -- and opens up, just a smidge, about Casper Smart, her 24-year-old dancer beau of about five months.

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"He's adorable. But you already see that," the American Idol judge, 42, gushes. "He really is [sweet]. He's a good egg. I don't want to talk about it too much. It's my private thing."

Of the 18-year age difference? "I don't feel older, and I don't feel like I look it, either, so I am just acting the same way I have always acted," the singer-actress says of being past 40.

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The star's longtime manager and confidante Benny Medina, however, tells Vogue that they've certainly discussed the May-December situation. "She's not oblivious to her own reality right now, as in, Damn, I'm 42 with a 24-year-old. Why? We talked about it yesterday," Medina says of his friend, who split from Marc Anthony last July after seven years of marriage.

"She was just like, 'It's not even the age, Benny. It's actually that I just came out of a relationship where I felt like I was kind of not getting what I needed," Lopez said of Anthony, 43, with whom she shares twins Emme and Max, 3. "'And I'm open! So somebody who steps! in righ t now and is actually touching me in a way-it's very fertile ground!'"

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Lopez herself says she's "very proud" of how she and Anthony (they've been working on and promoting their Univsion show Q'Viva! together) have handled their split. "We're still friends-and we're parents. But it's going to take time.. .It's tough. But for the most part, I feel very proud of the way were handling it. I really do. We are doing the best we can for the kids."

She added of their fight to say "dignified": "This is grown-up stuff. It's real, serious, grown-up stuff."

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