JLo’s celeb friends and exes are just as obsessed with her as we are

Jennifer Lopez graces the May cover of InStyle Magazine, and her celebrity friends and exes have a lot to say about what they think of the 51-year-old actress/singer.

The story includes insights from two of her exes (Marc Anthony and Ben Affleck) as well as Michelle Obama, Leah Remini, Fat Joe, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron and more. *Spoiler Alert* it’s all good things.

Since “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” let’s start with what two of her famous exes had to say. JLo’s ex-husband Marc Anthony spoke about her “incomparable work ethic.” Anthony noted that JLo has an “ability to see and understand things before they happen.” 

“Before she even brings an idea up, she has visualized it a thousand times. And if anyone says it might not be the greatest idea, she’ll say, ‘You just don’t see it yet,’” he added, saying that nine times out of 10, Lopez will “nail it.” He also said that she’s the first one in the room and the last to leave, calling her the “hardest worker I’ve ever met.”

“When we were together, it was quite the opposite for me. That has changed since. I learned so much from her. She’s the original,” Anthony concluded.

Ben Affleck, JLo’s ex-fiancé, also gushed about her hustle and said that he was “completely humbled and blown away by” what his Gigli co-star was “committed to doing day in and day out, the seriousness in which she took her work, the quiet and dedicated way she went about accomplishing her goals, and then how she would go back and redouble her efforts.”

Affleck said that JLo “remains, to this day, the hardest-working person I’ve come across in this business.” He said that she has “great talent” and has “worked very hard for her success.” 

“I’m so happy for her that she seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves,” he added.

Affleck also asked where Lopez is “keeping the fountain of youth.” He continued, “Why do you look the same as you did in 2003 and it kind of looks like I’m in my 40s…at best?”

Well, JLo’s secret is JLo Beauty, duh! “I don’t have any [beauty] secrets except JLo Beauty — and I’m giving them all to everyone with every product. Ben is funny! He still looks pretty good too,” she responded. 

It’s not just her exes who are celebrating JLo, her accomplishments and her work ethic. InStyle also spoke to her friends and past co-workers about what she’s like behind the scenes and how she stays so flawless.

Michelle Obama shared her admiration for the Hustlers actress and her many gifts (you know, like talent, beauty, compassion and apparently an extra 24 hours in each day?). 

“But what impresses me the most about her is her unwavering commitment to leverage those gifts and use her platform to give voice to the voiceless,” Obama said. “Whether it’s working to improve health care for mothers and children, encouraging more people to vote, or singing her heart out at a presidential inauguration, Jennifer has always known that life is best when it’s shared with others.” 

Matthew McConaughey, who co-starred in The Wedding Planner with Lopez, asked the easier question, “What can she not do?” He went on to list off some of the qualities he admires about her: “Extremely deliberate, intentional, fully choreographed, and self-aware.” 

“Her success is not happenstance,” he added.

Charlize Theron called her friend “an absolute powerhouse.” She said that she couldn’t begin to comprehend how Lopez does all the things she does. “Always giving 120 per cent, and she has made it seem effortless for 30 years. To call her a triple threat doesn’t come close to describing her —she’s all of the threats!”

Fat Joe said he learned a life lesson from Lopez when they were shooting the music video for “Hold You Down.” He was freezing in his bubble goose-down coat and JLo was in a tube top and miniskirt shooting the scene with him.

“And I never told her, but in my mind, I was just like, ‘Man, this woman got way more money than me and I’m freezing, but I better not complain because she hasn’t complained once!’”

After that experience, he said that he doesn’t care if he’s “in the desert in 100 degrees—I never make excuses. Whenever I talk to other artists or need to give myself a pep talk, I go right back to that moment.”

Most importantly, however, we've learned that JLo apparently has a killer chocolate chip cookie recipe that we're going to need her to drop ASAP. 

Leah Remini said that they often have sleepovers (okay, FLEX MUCH?) and if she’s having a bad week, JLo will do things to cheer her up like fill a tub for her, put rose petals in it and light candles. She also makes Remini chicken cutlets with “rice that I like — her Puerto Rican rice.” She also makes her coffee the way she likes it and she will bring “it on a tray with some chocolate chip cookies."

Hi JLo, can we all be friends because that sounds like some serious friendship goals.

Ryan Seacrest, who worked with Lopez when she was a judge on American Idol from 2011 to 2016, said that JLo “stays fit, she works out, but she eats what she wants and I deprive myself.” He recalled her telling him to have a bit of a cookie and now he’s trying to live his life where he's still “having a bite of the cookie, not the whole cookie.”

Thankfully, Lopez revealed that one day we'll get to know her cookie secret. “Someday I’ll give you the J-dough," she explained, somehow pulling off a dad joke that even the most seasoned of dads could not. 

In response to her friends' praise, Lopez said that she really just loves what she does.

“I’m passionate about it. Every day does not seem like a job to me. I can honestly say I’m living a dream, and I’m grateful every day that I wake up. I have tireless energy for what I do.” Can we package this mentality up to sprinkle on our cereal every morning because this is what we need in 2021.

Lopez doesn’t take all the credit, though. “I also have an amazing team who help me in every single way both personally and professionally. I really believe the most important thing is to have great people around you,” she said.

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[video_embed id='2171746']BEFORE YOU GO: Vanessa Bryant celebrates Natalia getting into USC[/video_embed]