Jennifer Lopez brings her new show to Dubai as part of the World Cup celebrations. And the singer and actress isn’t afraid to bare her soul, as our friends at Hype found out…

“I want to be remembered as a symbol that you can accomplish whatever you want and that you don’t have to be just one thing. You don’t have to be labelled.”

“I always knew what I wanted to do. When I first started acting and singing, I just thought about being the best I could be. I always wanted to be great at what I did — that’s what drove me.”

“If I got rejected, I wouldn’t take it personally. I was like, ‘Make them a fan and they’ll bring you back in for something else.’ I never thought about money or fame, and I never really thought that would happen to me. All that was just a by-product.”

“My mom and I butted heads. I didn’t want to go to college – I wanted to try dance full-time. So she and I had a break. I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio. I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’”

“Holidays always seem very long to me. After two weeks off, I start saying, ‘Let’s get back to work.’ And I’ve always been that way.”

“This job is not for everybody. It has amazing rewards, but it also has moments where you’re not feeling good and nobody wants to know about it. And I don’t think I should let them know. My job is to show up, entertain and be creative – everything else doesn’t matter.”

“My mother loved musicals and she influenced me a lot. She loved acting and musicals, but she never did it herself. But she exposed us to it, and it stuck with me.”

“At this point I’ve been doing it a long time, but sometimes when I do something new, it can be overwhelming. I feel like people get scared of those feelings, but I don’t think you should be scared of being overwhelmed. Just feel it and be like, ‘Wow, this is amazing. It doesn’t happen every day.’ It’s exciting.”

“Once you have a lot of success you become a target in many ways. I think that the whole diva thing is a misrepresentation of who I am. Some of that is because of where I came from. I came from the Bronx and a certain background. I worked really hard. I kept my focus on the right things. And still even with that they find stuff to pick on.”

“Being an actress and creating music as an artist are really my passions. I don’t think I could do without either. Both are creative sources that are so different. Acting is like the heart, music is like the soul.”

“I believe in love. It’s still my biggest dream. I am positive – determined to move forward with my life, bring up my babies, and do the best job I can as a mother, entertainer and person. I now look forward to new challenges. I feel strong.”

“I’ve done some movies that I’m very proud of, and I have been in some movies that were not so great. I feel I am at a perfect time in my life to wait for the right role. But I have to be patient and know that that’s coming, instead of doing things just to do them.”

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to be alone. I have no shame saying that at this point in my life. I think we have to own who we are.”

 

Dubai World Cup Closing Concert, Meydan Racecourse, Dubai. Saturday at 10.30pm. Tel: (04) 3272110. Taxi: Meydan Racecourse. Admission is for World Cup ticket holders only.