“The grace with which she handled the business, the grace with which she handled her life, the humor,” Lopez recalled to Billboard around the 20th anniversary of Selena’s death. “Her spirit of loving what she did. Her sense of family. That’s the tragedy of everything that happened and why she left such an imprint—because she was gone way too soon.”
Lopez’s third husband, Marc Anthony, actually knew Selena well.
“We were friends and colleagues, we started our careers at the same time,” he recalled to reporters in Miami 2015, per Pulso Pop. “We were both born here [in the U.S.]. At first we struggled with our Spanish and were learning to speak it together.”
Anthony added, “I had an incredible love for her. I think that Selena shines because of the way she managed her life, her talent, her career. The way she represented us…It’s important that people keep remembering her as that figure. A lot of doors opened the way she achieved to open them in the market where a U.S. citizen can make a living singing in Spanish and traditional music from their country. Until this day we still feel the impact. You know? That’s why for me it’s an honor to say that I considered her a friend.”
