Alex Rodriguez talks 'navigating' his blended family with Jennifer Lopez and his ex-wife

Alex Rodriguez loves his blended family! The 45-year-old former New York Yankees star opened up about raising his two daughters, Natasha and Ella, with his ex-wife, Cynthia Scurtis, and his fiancée, Jennifer Lopez, in a new interview with theRaising the Barpodcast.

"My father left me when I was 10 years old and I still have a hole in my heart because he left at that age. It was around the age of 11 that I made a promise to myself that I was going to be a great father whenever that moment came," Rodriguez said. "That is by far the most important thing in my life, my two beautiful girls, and now our four kids," referencing Lopez's twins, Max and Emme, with her ex-husband, Marc Anthony.

Calling his ex-wife a "great mother," Rodriguez opened up about working with all parties involved to make the best environment for their children.

"We positioned what could be perceived as a negative into a positive, by saying to the girls, look, now you don't have one house, you have two houses," he said. "You don't have two parents, you have four parents. Lucky you, the more the merrier."

The former baseball star admitted that being in a blended family "takes some navigating" but that by putting his daughters first, he finds himself to be a "more compassionate, more considerate" person.

"When I want to do things at Christmas with the girls, I may start asking for, not permission, but proactively in July I may be talking about Christmas, versus if I was in a different state of mind, I would drop it Dec. 15 and say, 'Hey, Cynthia, can I have the kids?'" he explained. "So it's been a really, really nice experience for us. I'm very friendly with [Cynthia's husband] Angel, he's wonderful with my girls. I think having four good people at the table, well, three good people and me."

Jokes aside, Rodriguez added that being quarantined with Lopez and their four kids amid the coronavirus pandemic hasn't always been easy.

"We've had a full house. We're six people with strong personalities," he said. "Leos and Scorpios flying around. We are a lot. We're a Latino family, we are loud and we all have strong opinions."

The family has alleviated the stress of the situation by having fun together.

"We try to play together. We try to have fun together, whether that's playing chess or Monopoly or watching movies or going outside and playing soccer or Wiffle ball," he said. "We do believe the family that plays together, hangs together, stays together."