“I just want to do everything,” said the artist.
Anyone who thought Jennifer Lopez has been sitting still lately is very wrong! Today her new album, This Is Me… Now, is released. And that’s not all, no: an accompanying film will also be released on the Prime Video streaming service. Nice job, Jen!
Reach the top
One look at Jennifer Lopez’s schedule and you can’t help but wonder: how? With two children, three stepchildren, multiple fashion partnerships and collections, a charity (that supports Latinx entrepreneurs) and a new beauty line, JLo Beauty, would you think there would be little time left for – let’s just say – sleep? “I just want to do everything,” she says of her hysterical schedule. “People often ask me: ‘What is your secret? How do I accomplish what you do?’ But it does not work like that. That drive must be within you. And if so, it will happen automatically. You can’t get to the top by cheating.”
Fewer opportunities
Something JLo understands like no other. In the early 1990s, she also had no one to copy her craft from. “It took me too long to understand how Hollywood worked. I had fewer opportunities than someone who wasn’t Latina. Whenever I auditioned for a film, I was always offered the same kind of roles. I was so naive, wanted so badly. Singing, dancing, acting, performing – it was my big dream. Looking back, I think: I wish I had been more critical in the projects I chose. If I could do it again, I would have made different choices.”
Although you don’t have to try cheating with her, she does want to offer tools to others who are in the shoes of her nineties self. “When I see young talents who get completely stuck and get in their way because they want to do it so badly, I am the first to tell them: ‘Hey, you got this. You can achieve everything you want, but only if you believe it yourself.’ The more peace you have within yourself, the more you can grow.”
To fight
According to that philosophy, Jen must be peace itself: every year the superstar rakes in about forty million dollars. And with an estimated net worth of four hundred million dollars, she is one of the richest self-made women in the world. “Women often hear that they cannot do the same as men. Nonsense,” she says firmly. “Women have been in charge of countries, running empires for I don’t know how long. And look at me: I also do ‘what men do’. I have proven myself as a creator, entrepreneur and artist and I am accessible and empathetic. I cherish those skills and try to use them as much as possible. But we can’t just wait until we get the same opportunities. So many women before us had to fight for the opportunities we now have, and we must continue that fight. We have to show ourselves and tell our story.”
Worst heartbreak
That story becomes more personal than ever with the arrival of her brand new album This Is Me… Now and new single Can’t Get Enough. The title refers to her 2002 album This Is Me… Then, which, according to rumors, is largely about her then lover Ben Affleck. The two were engaged before splitting in 2004 – one day before the wedding. “The worst heartbreak of my life,” she says about that time. “It really felt like I was dying.” Both married someone else: Ben with actress Jennifer Garner, with whom he has three children, and Jen with singer Marc Anthony, with whom she had twins. But just under twenty years later, in 2021, Bennifer sparked again. “After all these years, our story still had a happy ending. Truly one of those stories that, if you saw it in a film, you would think: that would never happen.’” But it did. And in 2022, the OG love birds still tied the knot.
Bennifer juice
Anyone who is curious about the Bennifer juice should schedule a Spotify date today, because with song titles such as Dear Ben, Pt. II, Mad in Love, This Time Around and Greatest Love Story Never Told, we will undoubtedly get an insight into their love story. In addition to the album, the documentary This Is Me… Now will also be released on Prime Video on February 16, written by Jen together with Ben. “I want to keep growing, keep working,” says Jennifer. “Maybe until I’m ninety – who knows. In any case, I’ll keep going as long as I want. That has always been my attitude; not to let anyone put me in a box, because of my background, my age, whatever. Those boundaries don’t exist for me.”
Text: Ivana Batstra (Grazia) | Image: NL Image
