Jennifer Lopez says women only get sexier as they get older.
In an interview for Elle’s Women in Hollywood issue, the 54-year-old actor revealed her thoughts on the increase in acting roles for older women. She told the outlet, “People have realized that women just get sexier as they get older.”
“They get more learned and more rich with character,” she continued. “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.”
The Marry Me actor noted that it was wonderful to start seeing a shift in the double standards older women face as they age in the entertainment industry.
“It has changed a lot, and I think it’s appropriate,” she told the outlet. “As you get older and you have more experience, you become a richer human being and you have more to offer. The idea of, ‘There’s nothing really valuable about watching a woman over 30’ is so ridiculous, it’s the opposite of right. It just makes me laugh.”
Lopez admitted that her guiding principles have taught her to persevere in an industry that seeks to discriminate against women over the age of thirty. This mentality of pushing forward no matter how many doors may slam in her face keeps her going.
The singer said, “I see myself working [as long as] I want to. I don’t know what that age is. It might be 70, it might be 80, it might be 90, I don’t know. But I know that it’s there for me if I want it and I want to create it.
“That has always been the mindset that I’ve had: To never let anybody put me in a box because of where I was born, where I’m from, what age I am, anything like that. Those boundaries don’t exist for me.”
In this new era of meatier roles for middle-aged women like herself, Lopez says she’s eager to get out of her comfort zone as an artist and try something new like directing. She confessed that “been offered to direct a couple of things,” but had to decline “because of time constraints.”
“I want to keep evolving,” she explained. “And whether I’ll take the helm and direct my own film at one point is a possibility.”
The multihyphenate is also preparing for the release of her latest studio album, This is Me... Now. The project - a sequel to her 2002 album This Is Me... Then - will be the first album the star has put out in almost a decade. According to the album announcement, it will reportedly be accompanied by a documentary named This is Me... Now: The Film, a“musical and visual reimagining of her publicly scrutinized love life.”
The album’s first single “Can’t Get Enough” is set to be released on 10 January.
