J-Lo Makes It Official: She's Leaving "American Idol" Yesterday, she seemed on the fence about it, but now Jennifer Lopez is sure: she's leaving "American Idol." J-Lo confirmed the news to "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest on Friday morning, saying, "The time has come." Lopez talked about how the many projects she's involved in right now complicate her life and "something had to give." She said she "dreaded" telling Seacrest about her decision, but said, "I honestly feel like the time has come that I have to get back to doing the other things I do that I put on hold because I love Idol so much." She added, "We had an amazing run." When asked if the door was still open, she said, "I'm always gonna be there" for "American Idol," but noted, "I just don't know if I can be there every single day, all the time, the way we've been doing it for the past two years."