ABC News' Jennifer Pereira and Douglas Vollemayer report:

Jennifer Lopez is a musical force of nature and her songs have touched people all over the world, but at her core she's still Jenny from the block.

"Good Morning America"'s Michael Strahan caught up with Lopez, 44, and her sister, Lynda Lopez, 42, in the Bronx. The sisters were there to launch the Center for a Healthy Childhood, which will aim to teach families how to live and eat healthier.

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The center is a partnership between their Lopez family foundation and Montefiore Medical Center.

Addressing a crowd that had gathered for the launch on Sunday, Jennifer Lopez said the Bronx rated "dead last" in good health outcomes of all the counties in New York state, and speaking in an interview to Strahan, Lopez said conversation with Montefiore revealed that obesity was the biggest problem in the community.

She talked about what she ate as a child.

"We ate rice and beans and pork chops, I mean fried pork chops … We didn't have a lot of vegetables or salads or greens or fruits or things like that. It was a whole different culture," she said.

Her sister said she hoped the center would teach children and mothers to eat healthy.

Jennifer Lopez also gave back in another way that thrilled her legions of fans: on Wednesday night, she gave her first ever free concert in the Bronx, rocking the house at Orchard Beach. It was all part of State Farm's Neighborhood Sessions, where artists give back to their hometowns. Lopez noted that the concert comes the same week she released her debut album ("On the 6?) 15 years ago.

When Strahan asked the superstar singer, actress and "American Idol" judge what she would tell herself if she knew then what she knows now, she replied: "I would say follow your instincts, follow your gut. I have to say the times when things did go wrong is when I didn't."

Lopez said she feels as though her life is "something that is surreal and out of a fairy tale."