Jennifer Lopez summed up 2020 for all of us when she took the stage at the E! People's Choice Awards Sunday night.

 

"Oh, my God 2020 man, 2020 was no joke, right?" Lopez said while accepting the Icon Award. "I mean, before 2020 we were obsessing about winning this award, getting nominated for that award, we were caught up on who sold the most records or who had the biggest box office opening or crazy stuff. This year was the great leveler. It showed us what mattered, what didn't and for me, reinforced what matters most, people."

 

Lopez had a few surprises before she began her speech. Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and her children were among those who appeared virtually to share their admiration.

 

"Helping each other, loving each other, being kind to each other. And the importance of that connection, that human touch and I realize it's what I strive for in everything I do, to reach people, to touch people. I believe that's what we all want, shared experiences, to know that we're not in this alone," Lopez went on to say. "Your belief and your faith in me motivates me to keep going and sometimes when I'm tired or beaten down like a lot of us have been this year, it's my family, my friends, my babies and my fans, you guys, who have lifted me up when I couldn't lift myself."

 

Lopez, who began her career as a dancer on "In Living Color" before finding success as an actor, singer and producer, spoke about perseverance.

 

"As a Latina and as a woman, we have to sometimes work twice as hard to get the opportunity. Sometimes my big dreams and my ambitions made the people around me nervous people would say you're a dancer, you can't be an actress. The more they said I couldn't, the more I knew that I had to," she said. "So now here I stand, so very grateful, knowing that the true measure of my success is not in box office numbers or records sold but from the love that I feel from all of you and yes, I feel it."

 

~ Via CNN