Jennifer Lopez says she refused a boyfriend's advice to get Botox in her 20s

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It’s easy to be cynical when a celebrity with access to the best cosmetic treatments money can buy starts dispensing beauty advice. But Jennifer Lopez credits her still-flawless-at-51 good looks to turning down any high-tech intervention.

Speaking to Elle ahead of the Jan. 1 launch of her own beauty line, JLo Beauty, the actress and singer shared a moment from her early 20s, when she decided against getting Botox, despite pressure from her then-boyfriend and his dermatologist.

Jennifer Lopez, now 51, says she's refused to get Botox.  (Photo: Toni Anne Barson/WireImage)
Jennifer Lopez, now 51, says she's refused to get Botox. (Photo: Toni Anne Barson/WireImage)

"I was in my 20s and I was dating this guy,” the “I’m Real” singer recalled. “He went to one dermatologist and I went to another dermatologist. Basically, my dermatologist gave me a great cleanser and some sunscreen and said, 'If you do this from now on, your skin is healthy, you're young right now, it's going to be great.' And he's like, ‘But the sunscreen is the thing.'

“And then I went to this other doctor with the boyfriend, and again, I was 20-something years old, and I haven't ever had Botox to this day. And she said, 'Did you know you have a little line right here? We should start Botox.’ I mean, I had to be 23 years old, right? And I was like, ‘I'm going to pass.’ I didn't like needles anyway, but the boyfriend's like, ‘Yeah, you should start it. I do that.’ I was like, no, thank you.

“And I just wonder what would've happened to me if I would've started Botox at 23, what I would look like right now. My face would be a totally different face today.”

A 24-year-old Lopez in 1994, around the time she says she was encouraged to get Botox. (Photo: CBS via Getty Images)
A 24-year-old Lopez in 1994, around the time she says she was encouraged to get Botox. (Photo: CBS via Getty Images)

The mother of twins also swears by olive oil — “it’s a secret I’ve used over the years because it really does work,” says Lopez, who insisted that her beauty products contain olive oil extract — as well as positive thinking and daily affirmations.

“Every day, I say I am youthful and timeless at every age,” she explained. “I live a beautiful adventurous life with my children, and we're all in perfect health, always. All of these great things you learn to say to yourself so there's this positive self-talk in your head really does create a beautiful person on the inside who maintains a beautiful person on the outside.”

She added, "I heard this saying once when I was younger: ‘Until 25, you get the face you're born with, but after 25, you get the face you deserve.’” That statement she simplified to act accordingly. “You have to be a nice, beautiful person on the inside if you want to have your face reflect that. You become what you think and how you act."

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