Jennifer Lopez was honored with the Generation Award during the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday night.
Taking the stage at Los Angeles’ Barker Hangar to accept her golden popcorn trophy, the 52-year-old actress and singer accepted the honor by first thanking her fans.
“Thank you. Thank you. I love you so much,” Lopez gushed. “You know, I look at those movies and I see all the wonderful people that I’ve been blessed to know and to work with. You’re only as good as the people that you work with and if you’re lucky, they make you better. And I have been very lucky in that regard.”
She continued, “As an actor, I am not any of the women that I played but there is a part that is deeply true to me and each one of the characters, and since you cannot create truth unless you really lived it, I have a different kind of list of thank-yous tonight.”
“I want to thank all the people who gave me this life. I want to thank the people who gave me joy, and the ones who broke my heart.”
“The ones who were true, and the ones who lied to me,” Lopez continued. “I want to thank true love, and I want to thank the way that I lied to myself, because that’s how I knew that I had to grow.”
The star went on to thank “disappointment and failure for teaching me to be strong,” and her children, 14-year-old twins Max and Emme, “for teaching me to love,” as she teared up and cheers rang throughout the crowd.
“I want to thank all the people who told me, to my face — or when I wasn’t in the room — that I couldn’t do this,” Lopez added, through tears. “I really don’t think I could’ve done it without you. And I know I couldn’t have done it without the fans who saw the movies.”
“You are the reason that I am here and that I have been here, and I love you!” she said.
According to MTV, the Generation Award celebrates “beloved actors whose diverse contributions to both film and television have turned them into household names.”
Past recipients of the Generation Award include Scarlett Johansson, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Pratt, Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Wahlberg, Sandra Bullock, Jamie Foxx, Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, and the entire Fast & Furious franchise. Lopez is best known for her roles in Enough, Maid in Manhattan, The Wedding Planner, Selena, and, most recently, Marry Me.
Watch Lopez’s speech below.
