Jennifer Lopez felt she had to be quiet

Jennifer Lopez felt she "had to be quiet" when she started out in music.

The 'On The Floor' hitmaker - who has also made a transition to acting as of late - feels it is a much more "empowering time" for women now than it was in the past.

She said: "When I first started in my career, it was almost as if you had to be quiet ... if you did speak out, it was like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, are you speaking?' That inner eye-roll I had going on was real and it was part of the time [we were in]. Now, [women] are kind of in this moment when we realise that our voices are being heard and we are speaking up more. We are saying that we accept this, and won't accept that, and that we want to be treated equally. It is a much more empowering time."

And Jennifer thinks coming from the Bronx helped her navigate fame.

She added to Vogue magazine: "I always said that when I went out to Hollywood, it was the fact that I was from the Bronx that helped me. It was that I was so different from everyone out there that separated me, and it became my biggest strength. That is why throughout my career, I am always Jenny from the Block, I'm real. It is important to me, it is who I am, it is that blood that pumps through your veins, it makes you hungry to remember that you had nothing, and then to want more. I definitely have had to pull out the Bronx on people at the times when they are not correct and not being respectful in the way that they should [be] to a young lady."