THE HIGH POWERED HUSTLE OF JENNIFER LOPEZ

As a movie star, global pop sensation, and an internet-melting fashion icon, nobody owned 2019 like Jennifer Lopez.

First of all, Jennifer Lopez’s apartment looks exactly as you’d imagine: a penthouse in the sky, replete with tasteful floral arrangements, flickering Le Labo candles, and sofas in shades of ecru, cream, and white that, while cosy, appear remarkably unsullied by the debris of human life. The most surprising thing about the place is its location: it’s in the middle of a busy part of New York, and yet, at the same time, it’s private. Looking out from her terrace, you can see thousands of people bustling about, but no one can see you.

This was where Jennifer was sitting on a recent Sunday. She’d just finished working out – because of course she had – and was sipping a cappuccino in makeup-less splendour. That’s when a late-season bee, perhaps mistaking her famous skin for actual honey, suddenly dive-bombed her face. I must’ve made a sound like NOT HER FACE, MOTHERFUCKER because Jennifer said, “It’s just a bee,” and waved it away. Because, of course. She can handle a bee. She’s Jennifer Lopez.

When Jennifer first signed on to produce and star in Hustlers, a movie inspired by an article I wrote for New York magazine, I was as familiar with her work as anyone else on planet Earth. Which is to say, I was familiar with it in the way that I was familiar with, say, air.