Jennifer Lopez spent her New Year’s Eve performing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for the second night of her Up All Night Las Vegas residency. During the show, she took a moment to get real about some big advice she received following one of her divorces, after sharing a sweet moment with her kids on stage.
The new show is a full circle moment for the triple threat, considering she previously had another Las Vegas residency that kicked off in 2016, about a year and a half after her divorce was finalized with Marc Anthony. Since JLo’s split with Ben Affleck became official in August 2024, the parallels are there. Here’s how Lopez reflected to the Las Vegas crowd on New Year’s Eve:
After my third divorce, that’s when I really started getting good at [dancing] , okay?…I was ready to give up on everything. My life was a mess. I was a single mom for the first time with two little 3-year-old twins.
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announced their separation back in 2011 after being married for seven years. Their divorce was finalized in June 2014. As Lopez recalled in an on-stage speech (per JLo’s Instagram), things really started to click for her regarding dancing following her split from Anthony. As she continued:
And then one of my mentors, Louise Hay, said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ She said ‘When you’re learning a dance, and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?’ I said, ‘I just keep going until I get the steps right.’ And, she said ‘That’s it, Jennifer. Always keep dancing.’
Dance isn’t simply a skill; it can also teach one some real lessons that carry on to life. Louise Hay is a motivational author/speaker, who apparently inspired Jennifer Lopez to apply what she knows to be true in dance to her personal challenges post-divorce. As JLo also added when addressing her fans:
And, I wish the same for you. That no matter what life throws at you, that you dance, and you dance, and you dance. Again, and again, and again.
What gorgeous advice to bring into 2026! JLo’s story reminds us that sometimes the most difficult times can provide some of the most growth and worthwhile lessons, and we love to see her inspiring others with this wisdom during a NYE show. The night before, JLo also claimed this moment of her life as her “happy era” as she sets off on this Las Vegas residency through March 2026.
Outside of getting back to performing concerts after previously canceling her THIS IS ME… LIVE tour ahead of officially splitting with Ben Affleck in 2024, Jennifer Lopez recently starred in the critically acclaimed film, Kiss Of The Spiderwoman. She may have been snubbed at the 2026 Golden Globes and the movie flopped at the box office, but reportedly she didn’t “linger” on it and moved right along to “the next big thing.”
Lopez is also set to be in a “raunchy” rom-com with Brett Goldstein that has been filmed, and we expect it to have a place among Netflix’s 2026 release dates. Clearly, JLo continues to take her own advice to keep dancing, and we’ll be taking some of this energy into 2026 ourselves.
