Jennifer Lopez Discusses Feeling ‘Letdown’ By Her Oscars Snub For ‘Hustlers’

Jennifer Lopez has had a lot of success in the last six months. After starring as a stripper named Ramona in the movie Hustlers, the singer and actress received critical acclaim and a variety of nominations for her performance. She also earned praise for her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. In an interview with Oprah for the magnate’s 2020 Vision Tour, Lopez admitted that not being recognized with an Oscar for her work in Hustlers did affect her, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I was sad, I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it. There were so many articles, I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar, it’s going to happen if it doesn’t you’re crazy.’ I’m reading all the articles going, ‘Oh my god, could this happen?’ And then it didn’t and I was like ‘Ouch,’ it was a little bit of a letdown,” Lopez said.

She also shared that she felt her whole team, some of whom have been with her for decades, was rooting for the nomination and was just as let down as she was when it didn’t happen. The singer, who was speaking in front of a crowd of 13,000 at the Forum in Los Angeles, said that after her tremendous successes in the past year, she was forced to reflect on why being snubbed by the Academy stung so badly.

Lopez said she was aware that she’d had an amazing, highly successful year but that she was still looking for external validation.

“You want people to say you did a good job,” Lopez said.

Eventually, the Out of Sight actress realized she acts because she loves it, not because anyone tells her she’s great at it. Lopez said that she didn’t need an awards body to validate that she was enough.

The hour-long conversation also touched on Lopez’s relationship with Alex Rodriguez and her performance at the Super Bowl. In discussing the halftime show, Lopez said that the worst moment was waiting for six minutes in the wings while Shakira performed before her. She also said that the backlash the show received for being too sultry didn’t bother her and that she tried to ignore those critiques. The “On the Floor” singer stated that she was proud of the show she’d put on and knew that most people had enjoyed it.