Jennifer Lopez Thanks Alex Rodriguez in Billboard Icon Speech

published 12 December 2020

Earlier this week, at the Billboard Women in Music event, Jennifer Lopez accepted the icon award.
In her acceptance speech, Lopez thanked her fiancé, Alex Rodriguez, and their four children, her 12-year-old twins Emme Maribel and Maximilian "Max" David and Rodriguez's daughters Ella Alexander, 12, and Natasha Alexander, 16.
"I want to thank my beautiful family for going on the road with me, for touring with me, for supporting me, for allowing me to be the artist that I am," she said.

The fact that Jennifer Lopez is an icon is, well, common knowledge. Like water is wet or fire is hot. At the 2020 Billboard Women in Music event, the singer/actress/incredible human was recognized as the icon she is with the icon award. And, in her acceptance speech, J.Lo gushed about the most important people in her life: her fiancé, Alex Rodriguez, and their four children, her 12-year-old twins Emme Maribel and Maximilian "Max" David and Rodriguez's daughters Ella Alexander, 12, and Natasha Alexander, 16.

"Of course I want to thank my beautiful family for going on the road with me, for touring with me, for supporting me, for allowing me to be the artist that I am," she said. "Alex and our four beautiful kids, thank you so much, I love you, everything I do is for you guys."

She also talked about the origins of her passion for music and dance, saying:

"Music has always been my passion. When I was little, music took the mundane and elevated it into a celebration. It's been my obsession ever since. And along with dance, it was my first love. And being able to make music and continue to make music all these years has been one of my biggest blessings.

My mom used to put me on the kitchen table and there's where she showed me how to do the booty shake and together we'd sing the oldies, or whatever was at the top of the Billboard charts at the time. Those were my first performances and it's what inspired me to do what I've had the privilege to do for all of you all these years."

Watch J.Lo's full speech below:

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Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.