Jennifer Lopez had her biggest fan in the audience as she accepted her gong at the iHeartRadio Awards 2022, with boyfriend Ben Affleck spotted beaming with pride.
The Love Don’t Cost A Thing hitmaker attended the star-studded ceremony at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where she was honoured with the prestigious icon award in recognition of her stellar career.
She had walked the red carpet alone, looking fabulous as always in a khaki gown which featured a sheer skirt and one sleeve, but Ben was waiting for her in the audience where he sat beside Jennifer’s daughter Emme, 14, from her marriage to Marc Anthony, and his son Samuel, 10, who he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
As Jennifer, 52, accepted her award from longtime friend and collaborator LL Cool J, Ben, 49, rose from his seat and led the applause for his partner while smiling proudly.
In her emotional acceptance speech, the Marry Me actress said: ‘I appreciate this so much, so very, very much. I wish I could tell you that awards were the most important to me, but that’s not true. And don’t think that I don’t appreciate the shiny, sparkly things, because I do! I cannot lie, everybody knows that I do. But this isn’t why I do this. It’s not what matters most to me. I really do it for you guys.’
She continued: ‘Because of you, I get to do what I love the most in life and that is the most wonderful blessing. That’s a gift that you give me and I just want to say thank you for that. Thank you to everyone who comes to a show, streams a song, sees a movie, follows me.
‘You guys are the ones who give me the opportunity every day to live a life I couldn’t even imagine would come true when I was a little girl growing up in the Bronx.
‘You did that for me. You made that dream come true. I’m shaking! And I will always be grateful to each and every one of you for that. And I will never forget it, and I will never, ever take it for granted. So I want to say thank you to every one of you for believing in me when other people didn’t, even when I didn’t. Thank you for teaching me who I really am.’
Powerfully, she concluded by saying that icon stood for ‘I can overcome negativity’.
‘Let me tell you something else. I’m just getting started,’ she then teased.
After accepting the award, Jennifer then performed her song On My Way, which features on the Marry Me soundtrack, and was joined by drag queens modelling some of her most memorable looks from past years, notably including the famous green Versace dress she wore to the Grammys in 2000.
Jennifer also treated the audience to a performance of her 2005 single Get Right.
Ben and Jen’s romance has been going strong for almost a year now and recent reports claimed the lovebirds are looking for a summer home in the UK.
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