NEW YORK  —  The rumors are true: Jennifer Lopez is expecting twins, her father says.

"Yes, twins," her dad David Lopez said in an interview on the Spanish-language show Escándalo TV. "The thing is in my family, my sister also had twins, so it's a hereditary thing."

Lopez has made no secret of her desire to be a mom, which her dad acknowledged.

"I'm very proud. Jennifer has yearned to be a mother for many years," he said.

Papa Lopez plans to give the babies customary Puerto Rican azabache [black stone] bracelets to protect them from the evil eye.

"It's part of our culture," he said.

Lopez, 38, announced last November that she and husband Marc Anthony were expecting.