The low-down on JLo

As the singer prepares to perform in Dubai, we fill you in on what she's been up to.

For the concert in Bulgaria, Jennifer Lopez had a crew of 80 people and 10 trucks worth of equipment. Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP
Powered by automated translation

She's not marrying her second backup dancer... yet

Although the 43-year-old performer recently marked her first year of dating 25-year-old backup dancer Casper Smart with a sugary Twitter exchange (they call each other "bear") JLo is apparently not rushing down the aisle again, various outlets report. The singer has already been married three times - most recently to Marc Anthony - and engaged once, to the actor Ben Affleck. He closely followed her second husband, Cris Judd, who was also a backup dancer. Smart is touring with Lopez and will back up her moves on stage in Dubai.

She might still be a diva

It's been more than a decade since those concert riders emerged specifying that Lopez required an all-white atmosphere in the dressing room of her gigs - "yellow roses with red trim" being the exception. But a German hotel employee who reportedly asked for an autograph recently doesn't have a job anymore, and in an interview with Bild, the worker blamed it on the singer. But JLo says no: "Would never get anyone fired over an autograph," she wrote on Twitter, adding "#hurtful".

Dating her was not much fun

At least according to Affleck, who has shed all that early 2000s "Bennifer" nonsense and moved on to become a happily married Hollywood heavy-hitter with the recent release of Argo, opening in UAE theatres today. But in an interview in the upcoming December issue of GQ, Affleck says he felt more media persecution back then than Scott Peterson, an American who was eventually convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci. "I remember thinking he actually gets slightly better treatment than I do in the press," he reportedly tells the magazine. "At least they had to say 'alleged killer'." (No word on whether Affleck explains his ill-advised turn in Lopez's Jenny From the Block video.)

She really likes working with Pitbull

Lopez, who paired up with Pitbull for On The Floor and Dance Again, also collaborated with the rapper for a single on his new album Global Warming. Idolator.com calls her grammar-challenged contribution on a leaked version of Drinks for You (Ladies Night) - she sings "I done had a long week, now it's time to celebrate" - "likeably relaxed". Pitbull didn't include his other JLo outings when he performed at the Dubai World Trade Centre last summer; it remains to be seen if she'll attempt any of them tonight.

She works hard and she does not travel light

Lopez has been on tour for five months now, moving from a show in Belgrade, Serbia, on Tuesday to Dubai before jetting off to Shanghai for another performance on Sunday, wrapping everything up in Puerto Rico on December 22. During a recent interview with Lopez for the Sunday Telegraph, a reporter counted 15 people lingering in the room, each not doing much of anything but laughing whenever the singer made a joke. Lopez reportedly arrived for Sunday's concert in Bulgaria with a crew of 80 people and 10 trucks worth of equipment, requiring two cranes to erect her stage. In an interview with the American television show Extra this week, she said: "We're seeing the world, my babies are with me and we are just having a good time."

Jennifer Lopez performs a sold-out concert on Thursday at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre.