Jennifer Lopez got emotional Sunday while accepting the Generation Award at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
The 52-year-old – who was honoured for her “diverse contributions to both film and television,” according to a release – teared up when she thanked her children Max and Emme “for teaching me to love.”
Lopez was also visibly emotional as she paid tribute to her longtime manager Benny Medina as “the true meaning of ride or die.”
She gushed: “If there’s one person who believed in me from the beginning and the first time that I played him a raggedy little demo of a song that I had wrote that day, who never let me stop believing in myself, it was him.”
Lopez delivered a “different kind” of “thank you” list.
“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,” she said. "The ones who were true, and the ones who lied to me. 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.”
Lopez, who thanked “disappointment and failure for teaching me to be strong,” added: “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.
“I really don't think I could've done it without you.”
Earlier in the show, Lopez accepted the award for Best Song in recognition of “On My Way (Marry Me)” from Marry Me.
Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film) was named Best Music Documentary, beating out nominated docs about Janet Jackson, Ye, Oasis and The Beatles.
Lady Gaga, who was up for Best Performance in a Movie for House of Gucci, lost to Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland. Selena Gomez and her Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, didn’t take home the golden popcorn trophy for Best Team.