Enrique Iglesias Recalls Meeting Anna Kournikova Filming 2001 'Escape' Video: 'We Got Each Other' (Exclusive)

Enrique Iglesias is reflecting on his 21-year love story with Anna Kournikova.

The pair met when the former tennis pro starred in the Latin pop superstar's 2001 "Escape" music video.

"[The video changed my life] in ways that I didn’t even think about," Iglesias, 48, says of meeting his longtime partner, 42, in the new issue of PEOPLE.

Iglesias says he and Kournikova "grew up" together in the spotlight, which set a solid foundation for their relationship.

"When we met — although she came from the sports world — in a way, we kind of got each other. She knew what my world was like. I kind of knew what her world was like. So that understanding helped a lot," he says. "We just started connecting little by little and got stronger and stronger and stronger."

Now more than two decades later, he's proud of the private world they've built together for their three children: twins Lucy and Nicholas, 5, and daughter Mary, 3.

"You learn as you go. You have your good times, your bad times, and if you can get through the bad times, you'll get to the really good times," Iglesias says. "A lot of people say, 'Oh, well, I know this is the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with.' I do kind of agree with that, but at the same time, you really never know where life is going to take you and what can happen."

And Iglesias and Kournikova's kids are his biggest fans.

“When I pick them up from school and they’re having a bad day or one of them is crying or they’re fighting, we say, ‘Guys, what’s your favorite song?’ And then one breaks out into ‘I Like It,’ and then they all start singing it, and it’s so cute,” Iglesias says of his kids’ favorite song from his repertoire. “I'm just enjoying now. I’m enjoying every single day.”

Iglesias is currently on the road for The Trilogy Tour with pals Pitbull and Ricky Martin, and he's had to leave his personal fan club at home.

"When I go on the road, I miss them a lot. I feel like they're still not old enough to go on the road with me," says Iglesias, who adds his backstage routine on tour is pretty tame these days. "I like quiet and to be in my zone before I go on stage. I don't like a lot of craziness going on backstage. It's the complete opposite of Almost Famous."

And the positive place Iglesias is in today informs his music. Last month, he released “Así Es la Vida,” which is about living in the moment with a loved one through life’s ups and downs.

“It might sound a little cheesy when you translate it to English, but in Spanish it’s a song that I’m really proud of lyrically,” Iglesias says of the duet with María Becerra. “I feel like it’s a song that only at this point in my life I could have written.”

For more on Enrique Iglesias, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.