Jennifer Lopez claims she nearly walked away from it all after her 2014 divorce from third husband Marc Anthony.
The singer and actress, 56, was speaking onstage during her Up All Night Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Friday, when she opened up about the emotional toll of the split.
“It was actually a really tough time,” Lopez told the crowd. “I was really about to give up on it all.”
The singer, who shares 18-year-old twins Max and Emme with Anthony, reflected on the challenges she faced as a single parent following their separation.
“I mean, I was a single mom with two 3-year-old twins,” she said in videos from the show shared on social media.
During that difficult period, Lopez said she received advice from late self-help author Louise Hay that has stayed with her.
“She said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am,’” Lopez recalled. “And she said, ‘When you’re learning a dance and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?’ I said, ‘I just keep going until I get the steps right.’ And she said, ‘That’s right Jennifer. Always keep dancing.’”
Lopez said the message continues to guide her through life’s challenges.
“I wish the same for each and every one of you… that no matter what life throws at you, that you dance and you dance and you dance,” she told the audience.
The singer previously shared similar reflections during another night of the residency in December, saying she “really started getting good at [dancing]” after her third divorce, at a time when her life “was a mess.”
Despite the difficulties surrounding their breakup, Lopez has spoken positively about Anthony’s influence during their marriage. In a 2018 interview with Willie Geist on Sunday Today, she said Anthony helped strengthen her confidence as a singer.
“He really helped me with my confidence, and he saw where I suffered,” she said, recalling how he would encourage her by saying, “You’re a great singer. Don’t ever let anybody tell you you’re not.”
The pair later collaborated again on Lopez’s Spanish-language album Por Primera Vez, an experience she said helped repair parts of their relationship after the divorce and allowed them to rebuild their friendship through music.
