Jennifer Lopez ushered in the new year by embracing the two most valuable things in her life: her 17-year-old twins Max and Emme.
The self-described ‘showgirl’ gave her kids a big and lingering hug during her new Up All Night residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as the clock ticked down to midnight on New Year’s Eve.
After Max jogged off to the sidelines, Lopez paraded her daughter around a little longer to the thrill of the cheering audience and kissed her on both cheeks before Emme, too, skipped off stage.
The 56-year-old singer was dressed to the nines that night in a fuchsia gown with matching feather boa, and her hair cascaded down her back in soft, long curls.
Lopez then shared a personal confession about her past when she was a newly divorced, single mom-of-two after her third marriage to Marc Anthony crashed and burned.
The entertainer – who only the night before had made a sly dig at her marriage to fourth husband Ben Affleck – addressed the crowd girlfriend-to-girlfriend.
Jennifer Lopez ushered in the new year by embracing the two most valuable things in her life: her 17-year-old twins Max and Emme during her New Year’s Eve show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas
The entertainer made a subtle dig at her marriage to Ben Affleck the night before during her opening night
‘If you take anything from the show tonight I hope, let’s see, this is what I hope – I am going to perform, I promise,’ she began in a breathy voice.
‘So, on the very first night of my Vegas residency 10 years ago, those two little babies that you just saw on this stage… were 7 years old and after the show they came up to me and said, one of them, Max, he came up and he said, “Mommy, why don’t you ever wear pants on stage?”
‘And I thought, “Jesus Christ this is a bizarre life,” and you want to know what I answered, I said, “I’m a showgirl and I love to dance.” And it seemed like a good excuse at the time.
‘But the truth is, I do. I love to dance. If you take anything from my show – here it is,’ she went on.
‘After my third divorce – that’s when I started getting really good at it – I was ready to give up on everything,’ she began again in earnest.
‘My life was a mess. I was a single mom for the first time with two little 3-year-old twins and one of my mentors, Louise Hay, said, “Jennifer you’re a dancer, when you’re learning a dance and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?”
‘I said, “I keep going until I get the steps right.” And she said, “That’s it, Jennifer, always keep dancing,” and I wish the same for you,’ Lopez told the crowd.
‘No matter what life rolls your way, you dance and you dance and you dance again and again and again, I love you!’
The self-described ‘showgirl’ gave her kids a big and lingering hug as the clock ticked down to midnight on Wednesday
Lopez looked like she didn’t want to let Max and Emme go
Max finally sprinted off stage while Lopez made another grab for Emme and paraded her around on stage in front of a cheering crowd
The song and dance gal also made a personal confession about a difficult turning point in her past when she was newly divorced from Marc Anthony and single mom to 3-year-old twins
Lopez then called out ‘Hit it!’ before launching into her next tune, the 2012 hit Dance Again.
During her opening night performance on December 30, Lopez also poked fun at her short-lived and tumultuous marriage to The Accountant star, without mentioning him by name.
Lopez sounded a little breathless when she took a moment to thank her loyal fans who had been in the audience nearly a decade earlier for Jennifer Lopez: All I Have, her first Vegas residency, which ran from January 2016 through September 2018.
‘It went by in a blink, didn’t it, for those of you who were there on opening night ten years ago?’ Lopez said as the fans cheered, as seen in fan footage captured that night.
‘And, you know, at that time I’d only been married twice,’ she joked, alluding to her subsequent marriage to Affleck in 2022, which ended in divorce less than two years later.
After a burst of laughter from the audience, Lopez corrected herself.
‘That’s not true, it was only once,’ she said, before adding, ‘It felt like twice.’ Then Lopez burst into a smile and clarified, ‘I’m just kidding!
‘It’s over, and I just — boom — we’re fine,’ she said while making a sweeping kick, which was soundtracked with a bass drum and cymbal hit from her drummer. ‘It’s all good.’
Lopez poked fun at her marriage to Ben Affleck during opening night of her Vegas residency on December 30
Lopez said the ‘good news’ was that she was ‘learning’ and ‘growing’ in the wake of her heartbreaks; pictured with then-ex-husband Affleck on October 6, 2025 at the premiere of their movie Kiss of the Spider Woman
Lopez said the ‘good news’ was that she was ‘learning’ and ‘growing’ in the wake of her heartbreaks.
‘And we’re in our happy era now!’ she shouted triumphantly with an ear-to-ear grin, which elicited more cheers and clapping from the audience.
Lopez actually miscounted her marriages because Affleck was her fourth husband.
She was first married to Ojani Noa from 1997 to 1998, and after her relationship to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs went belly up, she married her backup dancer Cris Judd in 2001, though they divorced, too, in 2003.
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