Jennifer Lopez says turning 50 has been the "best moment of her life".
The ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’ hitmaker reached the landmark age in July and although women in the entertainment business are "conditioned to think" they are finished when they have lived through five decades she feels as though she is only improving as a performer.
In an interview with this week’s issue of ES Magazine, she said: "Did I think I would be doing this at 50? I didn’t think I’d stop, but I didn’t know that it would be the best moment of my life.
"We’re conditioned to think, as women, that it would be over by now. And the truth is, it’s not like that at all. I find myself growing and getting better every year and that’s exciting.
"It’s ambition for sure, and also toughness. This business is not for the faint-hearted – it eats people up. To survive in it for as many years as I have, you’ve got to have a tough skin."
Proving her career is going from strength-to-strength, J.Lo – whose career started when she got a job as a dancer on sketch show ‘In Living Color’ in 1991 – will soon be seen in crime comedy film ‘Hustlers’.
Jennifer plays a stripper in the hotly-anticipated movie which is inspired by the New York Magazine article ‘The Hustlers at Scores’ and is set in the late 2000s in New York City in the wake of the financial crisis and will follow a group of erotic dancers who plot to steal tens of thousands of dollars from their wealthy Wall Street clients.
J.Lo – who stars in the movie alongside Constance Wu, Lizzo and Cardi B – spent two months learning to pole dance for her role as Ramona Vega and she admits it was very daunting to dance "practically naked" in several scenes.
She said: "I’m used to being on stage in sexy costumes, but I have three layers of tights and fishnets and a bodysuit. It was a brand new feeling to come out practically naked, in front of all those men – 300 extras hooting and hollering – and dance for money.
"There’s something liberating and empowering about it, but you’re really out there, physically, emotionally and psychologically."
J.Lo admits that due to her incredible busy work schedule her marriage plans to fiancé, former baseball player Alex Rodriguez, have had to put on the back-burner.
She said: "I have a movie I’m shooting in October [‘Marry Me’] and the movie has an album that goes with it, so I’m just a little bit busy right now, and until October, he [Alex] has the World Series in baseball. We’re going to have to pick a day, pick a time and block it out, but we’re definitely talking about it."
Jennifer Lopez: Turning 50 has been the best
