J Lo cuts her cake at her star-studded birthday bash in

Miami recently. LEFT: Sharing a kiss with fiancé Alex

“A-Rod” Rodriguez. FAR LEFT: The showstopper cake.

I

T WAS glitzy, it wasglamorousandit

was way over the top.

A caviar-ladenbar,a towering

10-tier cake, a night sky exploding with

fireworks, hotshot DJs on the decks

and a price tag of $1 million (R14m) –

that’s what was on the cards when Jen-

nifer Lopez recently celebrated the big

five-zero.

Never one to do things by halves, J Lo’s

milestone birthday was always expected

to be a biggie. But even by her standards

it razzled the dazzle right out of the park.

The party, held at the Miami mansion

of Jennifer’s famous friends producer

Emilio and singer Gloria Estefan, was

“absolutely epic”, a party guest told Peo-

ple magazine. “The closest people in her

life were there and you could tell by the

way she said hello to everyone that it

wasn’t work. She was having a blast.”

She also looked drop-dead gorgeous

in a gold Versace creation that showed

her sexy, toned body to perfection. Fifty

has seldom looked this fabulous – and

proudly by her side was Alex “A-Rod”

Rodriguez, her 43-year-old fiancé.

“Alex made a toast in which he thanked

the Estefans for having them and said

how proud he was of Jennifer on her

tour,” the source says.

He was referring to her It’s My Party

tour, a 24-city stop that she kicked off in

honour of her birthday.

Famous faces among the

partygoers included rapper

Fat Joe, TV star Ryan Sea-

crest, singer Ashanti and

DJ Khaled.

DJ Cassidy, who played at

J Lo’s 40th bash, and DJ Don

Hot worked their magic

whenit cametothemusic,

pausingonlyforthearrivalofthegiant

cake.

Decorated with white and yellow flow-

ers, sparklers, rhinestones and gold fleur-

de-lis, the confection creation took four

men to carry it and J Lo and A-Rod shared

a kiss in front of it before she cut it.

Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Ashanti then

jumped on stage and spontaneously per-

formed some of their biggest hits –

to chants of “Go J Lo, it’s your birthday!

Party like it’s your birthday!”

“And when they played her

song Dinero with DJ Khaled

on it, her dancers picked her

up on their shoulders and

she sang along,” the insider

says. “She went crazy.”

The seemingly ageless star

• who’s captivated the enter-

tainmentindustryformorethantwo

decades – also made sure to take time

out to thank her fans “for all their love

and birthday videos”.

“I must have cried 20 times,” she wrote

on Instagram. “It was just another great

reminder of how thankful I am for all the

beauty and love I have in my life.”

A-Rod also poured out his love for her

in a sweet Instagram video, which in-

cluded clips of them together and with

their kids, as well as of J Lo performing.

“I love you so much,” he said. “Every

day is my birthday with you.”

She responded with, “I’m crying...

I love our life... I love you so much.. .”

Bet she also loved his gift to her: a

shiny red Porsche 911 GTS worth around

$140  000 (close to R2m), which was

delivered to their house with a big gold

‘I embrace

who I am.

I feel sexy, I

feel youthful,

I feel pretty’

J LO GOES

FOR GOLD

The superstar pulled out all the stops

to make sure her 50th birthday would be

a night to remember COMPILED BY NICI DE WET

l dit

6 | 8 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za^

Y NEWS