Jennifer Lopez reveals the advice her mentor gave her during ‘really tough’ divorce

Three photos of Jennifer Lopez performing in Las Vegas
This month, Jennifer Lopez is doing a residency at The Colosseum in Las Vegas titled “Up All Night.” She kicked it off with four shows on Dec. 30 and 31, and Jan. 2 and 3. Much like last year’s world tour with the same name, it’s gotten great reviews. Apparently, it’s a mix of modern-day music, jazzy-versions of some of her hits, and covers of Broadway tunes and features a 15-person orchestra.

After a terrible 2024, Jennifer declared that she was focused on healing and being kinder to herself. It must be paying off because during her first show, she declared that she’s in her “happy era.” Based on clips that have shown up online, she sure seems to be. She’s also been good-naturedly poking at herself and doling out life lessons to her audience. While vamping with the crowd this past weekend, Jenny revealed the advice that her mentor gave her while she was going through her “really tough” divorce from Marc Anthony in 2014.

“After my third divorce, that’s when I really started getting good at it,” Jennifer quipped in a video shared by @jpasc24 on Instagram Mar. 7 during a performance for her Las Vegas residency. “Seriously, that’s not funny. That’s not funny.”

“It was actually a really tough time,” she continued. “I was really about to give up on it all. I mean, I was a single mom with two 3-year-old twins and I called up one of my mentors. Her name was Louise Hay. Some of you might know who she was. She passed away.”

In her time of need, the renowned self-help author knew exactly how to get through to Jennifer.

“She said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’” the 56-year-old—who was married to Marc from 2004 until their divorce was finalized in 2014—recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And she said, ‘When you’re learning a dance, and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?’ I said, ‘I just keep going until I get the steps right.’ And she said, ‘That’s right, Jennifer. Always keep dancing.'”

Passing along that same message to her fans, J.Lo encouraged the audience to live by her motto.

“And I wish the same for every last one of you,” she said, “that no matter what life throws at you, that you dance, and you dance, and you dance—again, and again, and again. I love you so much!”

[From E! News Online]

“Always keep dancing” is great advice. It reminds me of Dory’s “just keep swimming” mantra in Finding Nemo and Michael Caine’s, “Why do we fall?” speech from Batman Begins. I love that Jennifer was given this advice in a context that she could easily relate to and learn from. It sounds like this was a lesson that’s always stuck with her. From the outside, it seems like it took her a long time to really understand that in this scenario, “dancing” doesn’t necessarily mean “keep trying to fall in love” but rather emerging from her challenges as a better, stronger person. I think she’s finally gotten there. Also, thanks to all of this talk about dancing, I now have Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” in my head.

My go-to mantra is always “This too shall pass.” The first time I heard it was when a friend, during a very difficult period in my early 20s, sat me down and said it so kindly yet firmly that it’s always stuck with me. Sometimes, it’s really difficult to keep dancing or remember that hard times will pass, though. Anyway, Jennifer really does seem so much happier and at peace lately. I hope she really has had a few years of personal growth and realization that she can be happy with or without a man.

Photos credit: PopCulture/Backgrid and Avalon.red

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

17 Responses to “Jennifer Lopez reveals the advice her mentor gave her during ‘really tough’ divorce”

  1. Jais says:

    I always find myself rooting for her.

  2. Chaine says:

    At least she has a sense of humor about it all. I’ve never seen her in concert. Does she actually sing or is it just lip syncing?

  3. Eleonor says:

    I don’t know why but I am rooting too!
    Also, my to go mantra is that even the worst of your days still has 24 hs.

  4. C-No says:

    I’m trying to figure out how to get a tattoo from Wicked, something other than straight text — “Woes are fleeting, blows are glancing, when you’re dancing through life.” I was thinking maybe little feet doing the choreography, but I can’t figure out what it is.

  5. smiley1177 says:

    I don’t really think she’s a great singer. Am I the only one that feels that way?

    • Neeve says:

      Are you serious!!?? You are absolutely NOT the only person that feels that way. She has been called a terrible singer and all sorts of Milli Vanilli for decades.

  6. Nicole says:

    My mantra to myself is “I just work here”. It allows me to keep in perspective that I am not in control. It may be overly simplistic but it helps me.

  7. Neeve says:

    One think about Jennifer is the determination and the ways she goes after whatever she thinks she deserves. She truly doesn’t care if you think she is talented or not.

  8. RMS says:

    I’ve had 2 stem cell transplants and recently was back in the hospital in the transplant unit to get car-t cell therapy. I have an end stage high risk incurable cancer and it will be a few more years of wildly expensive drugs and treatments and shorter and shorter remissions until I decide to tap out. While I was in the hospital for the car-t cell therapy, there were A LOT of people getting the same transplant I had gotten 2 of a few years ago, all of them semi-freaking out and wondering if they would ‘make it’. And I told them my motto through all of this is: we survive everything BUT the very last thing. None of this is easy, but managing your attitude is the toughest part and realizing that you WILL survive ‘this’ like so many before you have done, helps to put it all in perspective. And LOTS of people (just not me) get decades in remission from a transplant, so look towards them for inspiration.

    • therese says:

      My thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you for your courage and sharing. I will have to check this out. I had checked out stem cell therapy, the clinic in I think Puerto Rico, and I read that they wouldn’t touch a person until 5 years after they were cancer free. So I gave up on that. You know what you are talking about. I wish you the best.

    • bisynaptic says:

      Best wishes!

  9. Tis True, Tis True says:

    Seems like she could use the advice given in my knitting group: Sometimes you just need to go through a catch and release phase.

  10. Auntie Fah says:

    …she’s baaaaaack

  11. Grant says:

    People always want to dunk on her but I respect her and her hustle and I do think she’s talented. Maybe she’s not a great singer (she got better after her marriage to Marc Anthony IMO) but I think she’s a pretty charming actress (underrated even sometimes, hello Hustlers!) and I think she’s a great performer. I saw her residency at Planet Hollywood almost a decade ago and she put on a fantastic show.

  12. one of the marys says:

    I’ll admit to a very catty response. When I read the headline I thought, “I wonder if the advice was to put on some clothes?” hee hee hee snark snark bitch bitch

  13. jferber says:

    I thought she was talking about Ben Affleck. That was a terrible divorce, too.

Commenting Guidelines

Read the article before commenting.

We aim to be a friendly, welcoming site where people can discuss entertainment stories and current events in a lighthearted, safe environment without fear of harassment, excessive negativity, or bullying. Different opinions, backgrounds, ages, and nationalities are welcome here - hatred and bigotry are not. If you make racist or bigoted remarks, comment under multiple names, or wish death on anyone you will be banned. There are no second chances if you violate one of these basic rules.

By commenting you agree to our comment policy and our privacy policy

Do not engage with trolls, contrarians or rude people. Comment "troll" and we will see it.

Please e-mail the moderators at cbcomments at gmail.com to delete a comment if it's offensive or spam. If your comment disappears, it may have been eaten by the spam filter. Please email us to get it retrieved.

You can sign up to get an image next to your name at Gravatar.com Thank you!

Leave a comment after you have read the article

Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment