Jennifer Lopez Received High Praise From a Former First Lady
Jennifer Lopez has a high enough profile that she can count a former first lady as one of her friends. Lopez and Michelle Obama have met multiple times over the years, with Lopez even joining Obama’s voter initiative in 2022. In a recent article about Lopez, many of her friends and collaborators shared what they liked about the multi-hyphenate talent. Obama shared what she admired about her.
Jennifer Lopez received a glowing compliment from a former first lady
Obama said that she admires much about Lopez. In the times they spent together, she took note of her beauty, drive, and talent. Still, she said the quality she admired most about Lopez was the way she uses her platform.
“The world knows that Jennifer is blessed with many gifts — talent, beauty, and an unparalleled work ethic,” she told InStyle in 2021. “But what impresses me the most about her is her unwavering commitment to leverage those gifts and use her platform to give voice to the voiceless.”
Obama said that Lopez had never been afraid to put herself out there to help others.
“Whether it’s working to improve health care for mothers and children, encouraging more people to vote, or singing her heart out at a presidential inauguration, Jennifer has always known that life is best when it’s shared with others.”
Jennifer Lopez and the first lady shared a ‘spiritual’ moment ahead of the Grammys
While Lopez and Obama both have busy schedules, they’ve been able to see each other over the years. Lopez said they had a particularly meaningful moment backstage at the 2019 Grammys.
Alicia Keys hosted the ceremony and welcomed Lopez, Obama, Lady Gaga, and Jada Pinkett Smith to open the awards show with her. They took the time to express what music meant to each of them. Lopez admitted that she was running a bit late and felt stressed ahead of the ceremony.
“I think we were all rushing there,” she said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I’m always a tiny bit late, so I was running there, and it was like, I made it.”
The five women joined together before walking out on stage. Lopez said they shared a spiritual moment.
“We did a kind of spiritual prayer,” she said, adding, “It felt like we just joined hands and said, ‘Thank you God for these blessings and to be here and help us to shine light and create unity and goodness.’ We were feeling each other, power, and hoping we could create a really special moment for everybody.”
She later performed at President Joe Biden’s inauguration
Two years after this, Lopez came close to another first lady when she sang at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. She sang “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” as well as a portion of her song “Let’s Get Loud.” Lopez said it was a great honor to sing at the inauguration.
“It was a huge honor to be asked to perform at an inauguration,” she said. “When [then] President-Elect Biden’s team called [my manager] Benny [Medina] and said that he’d asked specifically for me, I thought, ‘What am I going to sing?’ I knew he wanted a touch of something in Spanish because that had not been done. I wanted to represent women, minorities, Latinos, and all Americans in the best way I could. The songs that I chose had huge significance to me, and the way that I chose them was very carefully crafted to be inclusive and unifying. I was very happy with the way it came out.”
