Jennifer Lopez felt she 'let everyone down' after Hustlers Oscar snub

As many of us are still recovering from the shock of Jennifer Lopez's Oscar snub earlier this year, it turns out the star herself has faced her own struggle to accept the Academy's decision.

The 50-year-old earned rave reviews for her turn as a thieving stripper in Hustlers, but as she revealed to Oprah Winfrey during the Los Angeles stop on her 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour on Saturday, the overwhelming acclaim set her up for disappointment when she left off the list of Best Supporting Actress nominees.

“I was a little sad," she said according to Billboard. "There were so many articles, I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of 'She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar, it’s going to happen. If she doesn’t [get it], you’re crazy.' I’m reading all the articles going, 'Oh my God, could this happen?' And then it didn’t and I was like 'Ouch.’”

She added, “Most of my team has been with me for years, 20, 25 years — and I think they had a lot of hopes on that and they wanted it too, so I felt like I let everyone down a little bit.”

While she was disappointed for a little while, the mom of two decided to dust herself off and to be proud of her work in Lorene Scafaria's drama regardless of awards recognition.

“I was a good actress — always — I can say that now to myself, but what I do now is so much different than what I did then,” she said.

“You realize you want people’s validation, you want people to say you did a good job and I realized, ‘No, you don’t need that. You do this because you love it."

She added, "I don’t need this award to tell me I’m enough.”

Related content:

• How Jennifer Lopez bared body and soul to find heart in Hustlers
• Hustlers earns Jennifer Lopez a career high opening with $33.2 million
• J Balvin on making Super Bowl magic with Jennifer Lopez and collaborating with Ivy Queen
• Jennifer Lopez sings with daughter Emme during ‘It’s My Party’ world tour kick-off