GQ has named Jennifer Lopez their “Icon of the Year,” a well-deserved honor which probably would have been deserved in a dozen other years as well. That’s what Jennifer’s Icon of the Year interview/profile is about: how this fabulous bitch is 50 years old and most of those years have been pretty amazing and iconic. Jennifer is profiled by Jessica Pressler, the journalist who wrote the story on which Hustlers is based. Pressler f–king LOVES Jennifer and asks Jennifer some great questions. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Whether she still considers her a bad bitch: “I think, growing up in the Bronx, there’s a little bit of a, you know, urban-gangster quality. That “Jenny From the Block” side. With my Timberlands and my hoops. ‘Cause we came from such a hard kind of background in that way. Growing up on those types of streets, I used to see girls fighting. I grew up with that. And it affects you. It makes you a little bit of a tough, badass type character. When I went to L.A., everybody seemed so soft. It’s a different kind of gangster.
Being called a diva & whether she considers it racist & sexist: “For sure. Because I was Latin, and I was a woman, and I was Puerto Rican, and they were not giving me the same pass that they gave everybody else at certain times. It’s hard to remember specifics. I wish I could. But honestly, I don’t like to harp on the negative or feel sorry for myself. You know, it, it just is what it is. There were moments in my life where it got to me more. Where it kind of took me down for a second. But it never took me down for very long. The energy was always in just getting better, doing more growing, and driving myself. To be better, all the time. And creating more opportunities for myself. Just, be resilient. They’ll give up.
Turning 50 this year: “In this industry, by the time you’re 30, they’re already like, “She’s done.” I can’t tell you how many times I felt like people were like, “She’s done, she’s over.” But it’s such a beautiful time in women’s lives. Artists, women especially, get so much better as they grow and mature. You can see it! Meryl Streep’s career took off after she was 40. Tina Turner, after she was 40. Cher. It’s not that [those women] weren’t who they were before that. But as they got older, they blossomed in a way they hadn’t before, right? They came into their own power, and they started realizing, like, “I am the scarce asset, I am the prize. I have something beautiful to offer to the world that’s only mine.” And I feel the same thing!
People having conflicted feelings about how she’s doing the Super Bowl Half-time show: “I understand people not wanting to do it. Everybody has to make their own choices. They have to feel good about what they’re doing. I feel like it’s an amazing platform and one of the biggest in the world to put out whatever message you want to put out there. Whatever message of love or—I don’t want to give anything away—I think it’s taking a chance to do it. I feel that it’s a great thing to have two Latina women in Miami headlining the Super Bowl, and what we could do with those 12 to 14 minutes to make people understand our worth and value in this country.… I think it could be a really beautiful celebration.
Whether money makes her horny: “A lot of things make me horny—I don’t think money is one of them. But I do like money! Money is an amazing thing! I don’t know that it turns me on, but it does make things easier.”
She talks a lot about business and Alex Rodriguez and how he’s helped her in her many businesses already, and what a good match they are. She also talks a lot about Hustlers and how she loves that men are so uncomfortable with the idea of women scamming them. It’s honestly a great read. I really hope she’s getting an Oscar for Hustlers, she deserves it.
Cover & IG courtesy of GQ.
I always thought of Jlo, Mariah and Celine to be divas (90s kid here) but I never shaw it as a negative thing. Diva to me is a talented woman who demands the best of things.
amazing!!
That is the best possible answer she could give about the Super Bowl.
I have to laugh at her comments about on those types of streets. J.Lo comes from a middle class, two parent household background. She grew up in the Bronx, but there was nothing gangster about her life lol.
Exactly!!!!
I thought the same thing. Like, she’s more “gangsta adjacent” than actually being the real deal. I mean, I’ve known tough characters and seen girls fight, too. Big deal. That doesn’t make me “gangsta.” Also, she’s been out of “the Bronx” for how long? Going on 30 years?
She’s about as gangsta as a cactus.
Lol, right?! She’s been rich and famous longer than she was in the Bronx!
I grew up on the South Side of Chicago but you will NEVER here me talking like I have any idea about “gangsters” and “those streets”. Sure I saw it but it would be disingenuous of me to try to pretend that was part of my life. Jennifer was a theater kid like me. She was never a part of that life.
@VV, agreed. But she’s right about LA. The people who make it there aren’t from Watts. They are from Wisconsin and England. Her family was working class in a depressed neighborhood. She saw fights, but she wasn’t jumping people to enter gangs. Everybody in the hood saw that, and there are lots of us.
Yeah I grew up on the South Side of Chicago but like I said in my comment above it would be disingenuous to try to claim street cred considering my upbringing. I grew up poor and lower middle class but I was a theater kid like Jennifer who had a strict parent -just like Jennifer. I was in the house when the street lights came on. But yes I agree about LA.
This is an unfair assessment.
I don’t go around acting like it makes me some kind of “urban gangster type” or whatever she called herself, but I’m from Newark and I grew up around things and people that others would consider “ghetto.” I grew up middle class in a two parent household. I wasn’t in a gang, I wasn’t the girl fighting, but I was surrounded by that. If you think that doesn’t affect a person’s outlook and experiences in life, you’re mistaken.
This is a woman who comes from a working class background and she knew people who came from less than she had even back in the day; she has made it to a much higher level in life and I can completely understand how and why she would feel a sort of disconnect or difference from people around her who are probably from way more privileged backgrounds than she grew up with.
This. Thank you.
+1 on your point. TYVM!
Damn, she sounds like a damn icon here! And what she said about the Super Bowl is so thoughtfully put and it’s so clear that she cares and wants to use that platform to bring about something positive. I don’t think I’ve ever loved her as much as I do after reading this.
I love her. I hope she wins an Oscar this year. It looks like Laura Dern is the only thing standing in her way.
I love her, but she’s from Castle Hill and went to Catholic school her whole life. What hard edge is she talking about?
I’ve always admired the work ethic and of course she has a beautiful face-but I wish she would disappear-with this hustling that she’s doing for awards now is just so blatantly obnoxious. I saw a screener of ‘ hustlers’ and it is just disgusting-really-and now I hear her saying how ‘complex the character of Ramona is’-STFU and go away
Same. I thought she was great in Hustlers but I feel like she’s been on an Oscar campaign since it’s release and Im already over it.
Yes, we need the women of color to go away and disappear. Hustlers was amazing for women, women produced. It, a woman wrote it and directed, women of color starred in it. It’s worth the hype.
Nah. Your attitude needs to go away. Had you watched the whole film you would see that she’s very worthy of the Oscar buzz. The scene where she danced was incredible. Very few actresses could’ve been as captivating as she was in that scene. Why shouldn’t she “hustle” this award season? She WORKED for that.
And-‘I’m engaged! to a a yankee!’ FFS you’re 50 and this will be your 4th marriage???
and most yankee fans I know LOATHED him when he played for them.
plus, he’s a cheater, on and off the field.
Yes when you are with such a blatant cheater it feels always like the other shoe will drop – like another Side piece will come out and sell her story. It’s already happened (when the first got engaged) and they managed to suppress the story but you know it will happen again. I don’t trust that creeper.
The cover picture is perfect. Just a striking photo of her face looking straight into the camera. And she looks as good as ever, obvs.
She is just a timeless ICON! Love her so much and she deserves all these noms she’s been getting! She means so much to me as a Latin immigrant. She’s been pushing doors open for us all for over 20 years!
No disrespect @diegoinsf! Best to you!
What I should have said is-I have been a fan- however this film is a disappointment. That women made this film is upsetting. Showing women in this light is not empowering. This is disappointing because it seems it was made by men. I think jennifer really sold out here and was thinking more about Alex Rodriguez and his love for strippers than her daughter and other women like you that look up to her. I’m far from a prude and I found the film gross. What does she tell her impressionable daughter? That she would present herself in this way after all these years was beyond crass to me.
I don’t care for her singing but I really think she’s a talented actress.