After all the hype and build-up, Jennifer Lopez fans were stunned and shocked when the triple threat wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the movie “Hustlers,” and they weren’t alone.
During an appearance with Oprah Winfrey in Los Angeles at the latter’s “2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour, the Super Bowl Halftime Show star admitted she “was a little sad” when nominations came out in January and her name wasn’t among them.
She further confessed that she’d maybe bought into all the accolades and praise she’d received from critics and fans alike — just like everyone else. Jennifer Lopez’s absence was the lead story in almost every article about the Oscar’s snubs this year.
“I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of, like, ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar. It’s going to happen. If she doesn’t, you’re crazy,'” Lopez shared, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. “And I’m reading all the articles, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. Could this happen?’ And then it didn’t, and I was like, ‘Ouch.’ It was a little bit of a letdown.”
And because her team, many who’ve been with her for “25, 25 years,” according to Lopez, were also on that hype train, Lopez said, “I felt like I let everybody down a little bit.”
That certainly got a reaction from the crowd, and Winfrey too, who quickly told her, “But you didn’t!”
Echoing a familiar sentiment many can probably relate to, Lopez explained that while she knows that intellectually, she still felt it as she took ownership and some responsibility of their disappointment. It’s not fair or logical, but it’s a very natural and human and compassionate response.
But she realized that there was no way she could allow herself to have this one slight sour what was a pretty remarkable year for her. “With the Super Bowl, with this whole year … a sold-out tour, getting nominated for all these awards, and then not getting the Oscar thing, I had to reexamine, ‘Why do you do this? What are you so sad about right now?'” she asked herself.
And it’s as simple as “people’s validation.” Just like everyone else, Lopez wants to be able to hear that she did a good job, that she’s doing a good job, from people. And realizing that she’s looking for outside validation for her own self worth was enough to set it aside.
“I don’t need that. I’m actually here, and I’m OK, and I am enough,” she said. “I don’t need this award right here to tell me I’m enough.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Winfrey spoke with Lopez about the backlash she and Shakira received for their racy halftime show that left some people so overwhelmed and besides themselves they had to call the FCC to file a formal complaint.
“Were you surprised when some people thought it was a little much?” Winfrey asked.
“About the sexy part? No, I wasn’t. It didn’t bother me,” Lopez smiled. “It was such a beautiful night, and it was so well-received, to listen to the small fraction of people who thought it was too sexy or were trying to say something negative — it would have been a sin for me to concentrate on that.
The memorable and historic halftime show garnered more than 1,300 complaint calls to the FCC for its content, which included “Hustlers”-inspired pole dancing, belly dancing, lots of booty shaking and skimpy outfits.
Anticipation for the show, though, led to the halftime show surpassing the Super Bowl itself in total viewers, with Billboard reporting 103 million viewers for the Latin duo, compared to 99.9 million who tuned in for the game.
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