Jennifer Lopez is ready to dispel the stereotypes of ageism and in particular, the portrayal of older women in the entertainment industry. That is, getting old doesnāt have to be a bad thing. In fact, getting old can be good.
āAs you get older and you have more experience, you become a richer human being and you have more to offer,ā the 54-year-old Lopez told Elle magazine. āThe idea of, āThereās nothing really valuable about watching a woman over 30ā is so ridiculous, itās the opposite of right. It just makes me laugh.ā
Lopez added, āPeople have realized that women just get sexier as they get older. They get more learned and more rich with character. All of that is very beautiful and attractive, and not just physically, but on the inside, the beauty that you gain as you get older, the wisdom you gain.ā
Lopez, who is getting ready to release her ninth studio album, āThis is Meā¦ Now,ā on February 16th, says she doesnāt have any set date or age where sheāll be ready to stop working.
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āI donāt know what that age is. It might be 70, it might be 80, it might be 90, I donāt know,ā she said. āBut I know that itās there for me if I want it and I want to create it. That has always been the mindset that Iāve had: to never let anybody put me in a box because of where I was born, where Iām from, what age I am, anything like that. Those boundaries donāt exist for me.ā
āThis is Meā¦ Nowā will be Lopezā first studio album release in almost a decade and will serve as a quasi-companion album to her 2002 album āThis is Meā¦ Then,ā which featured such hits as āAll I Haveā and āJenny from the Block.ā
Lopez added that the time weāre living in now is a great time for women of all ages to create in the entertainment industry.
āWith all the great women producers, directors, and actors who are taking more control of their careers and creating their own material, weāre in a very exciting time for women in Hollywood,ā Lopez said. āWeāre not just on the corners of life or on the outside of the stories. We are the stories.ā
What do you think of Jennifer Lopezās thoughts on aging in the entertainment industry? Do you think people have realized that āwomen just get sexier as they get older?ā Do you think we should dispel negative stereotypes of older women in entertainment? Let us know in the comments.