“The beauty that you gain as you get older. The wisdom you gain.”

Jennifer Lopez is saying no to the naysayers and their comments about ageism in the entertainment industry. The multi-hyphenate, considered a pop-culture icon for her record-breaking hits and strong female leading roles, gave her perspective on aging and how women become “sexier” as they get older in a new interview.

On the cover of Elle’s 2023 Women in Hollywood issue, the actress-slash-singer showed off her modeling chops while wearing a metallic gold Ralph Lauren Collection one-shoulder gown, which draped across her bodice with a flowy train. Her signature brunette locks were styled in a slicked-back bun, revealing a pair of chunky gold Schiaparelli earrings, and her glam included a bronzy glow, dark smoky eyes, and a glossy pink pout.

In the interview, Lopez opens up about aging and the misconception that women can’t be sexy over a certain age. If anything, Lopez, who is 54 years old, is the living, breathing proof that aging is a beautiful thing.

“As you get older and you have more experience, you become a richer human being, and you have more to offer,” she told the publication. “The idea of ‘There’s nothing really valuable about watching a woman over 30’ is so ridiculous, it’s the opposite of right. It just makes me laugh.”

She continued, saying, “People have realized that women just get sexier as they get older. They get more learned and more rich with character. All of that is very beautiful and attractive, and not just physically, but on the inside, the beauty that you gain as you get older, the wisdom you gain.”

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Lopez, who got her start as a dancer and has blossomed into a two-time Grammy winner and an actress with a number of thriller and action movies, dramas, and rom-coms under her belt, hopes to continue her career in the entertainment industry as long as they’ll have her.

“I see myself working [as long as] I want to. I don’t know what that age is. It might be 70, it might be 80, it might be 90, I don’t know,” she shared. “But I know that it’s there for me if I want it, and I want to create it. That has always been the mindset that I’ve had: never to let anybody put me in a box because of where I was born, where I’m from, what age I am, anything like that. Those boundaries don’t exist for me.”