Jennifer López: The interview

Por Richard Pérez-Feria
So there I was dancing with Jennifer López.

More than a year ago, a very powerful man in the music industry invited me to go with him to Jennifer’s ultra-private, small surprise party for her new husband, Marc Anthony, in their Long Island, NY home. It was a great party. Fat Joe performed. Victor Manuelle was genius. And then there was Jennifer, looking relaxed and happy. As I was dragged to the dance floor by one of Jennifer’s great friends, I spun around and, for what seemed like an eternity, was actually dancing with the most famous Hispanic person on the planet. Oh, and you may have heard, Jennifer’s a pretty good dancer.

Whatever one thinks–or, more accurately, whatever one thinks one thinks of Jennifer López–there’s no denying the cultural significance this force of nature imparts on all Hispanics. Hate her movies? Fine. Don’t get her music? Cool. But naysayers be damned: Jennifer López matters. A lot.

“I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m Latina,” Jennifer tells me after a very long day shooting the cover and subsequent photos accompanying this article as we sit upstairs in a private room in a cavernous photo studio in Hollywood. “I think that’s why Hispanics are like ‘She’s ours; she’s out there, but she belongs to us’ and that’s true. With the Latino community, I am theirs. I do belong to them–that’s who I am.”