Jennifer Lopez Says She's Always Considered Herself to Be a "Loner-Type Person"

Jennifer Lopez may be considered one of the ultimate It girls of her generation, transitioning from a dancer to an actress to a bona fide A-list multi-hyphenate since first hitting the scene in 1990. But now, she’s opening up about how she often still feels like an “outsider” when it comes to running in celebrity circles.

During an interview with Vogue for its December cover story, Lopez got candid about feeling like a “loner” throughout her entire career, despite multiple efforts to make friends. “I’ve always felt like an outsider, in the fashion world, the music world, the movie world,” she shared. “I feel like everybody knows each other and all the artists talk, and you go to the Met ball and all the girls are hanging out together, and I’m not in that group.”

She continued, “Maybe that’s just insecurity. It’s not because I’m antisocial or I don’t want to make friends. I’ve always been kind of a march-to-the-beat-of-my-own-drum, loner-type person. I’m like, I’ll just stay focused on my thing. I’ve always kind of felt like that. I still do. But I try!”

J.Lo then explained that while she no longer uses external opinions as a source of self-worth, there was a point when those comments had a huge impact on her. “It used to be about the idea of validation in other people’s eyes. It really used to be. Because I wanted to be part of the club,” she said. “But I don’t anymore. There’s something bigger that I’m after. It’s about touching people’s lives and being touched.”

The star finished by adding that although she may be more than happy with the person she’s grown to be, she still has a lot of love for her former self.

“​​My whole life, my whole music career was just about love: every movie I picked, every album I made,” she said. “Even though I’m super proud of who I am today, and I wouldn’t change a fucking thing — and I can finally say that, as a human being, as a woman, as a partner, as a wife, as a coworker, as a mother and stepmom — there’s just that little piece where you feel like, That old me? She was sweet.”