Seeing Double! J.Lo Impersonator Connie Peña Gushes About Meeting Her Idol Jennifer Lopez for the First Time

J.Lo impersonator Connie Peña got to meet the real Jennifer Lopez for the first time backstage at one of her concerts. Peña, 39, who is of Mexican and Peruvian descent, has been impersonating the Nuyorican singer and actress for years and gushed about this face-to-face encounter with her lookalike. “I finally got the opportunity to meet the Ms Jennifer Lopez, the legend, my icon, and the woman that has motivated me and impacted my life in so many ways! This day changed my life. I had been waiting so very long for this day to come. I’ve never been so nervous in my life!” Peña confessed on Instagram, where she has over 64,000 followers.

The encounter was at a meet-and-greet at Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota, where J.Lo recently performed as part of her It’s My Party tour celebrating her upcoming 50th birthday. Peña admits she had a million questions to ask her idol but went blank and got starstruck when she had J.Lo up close. “Being in her presence, face to face, I got so nervous that I couldn’t even ask her one question,” she adds in her emotional post. “The only thing I could get out of my mouth was thanking her for being who she is and how much of a motivation she has been to me.”

Peña, who is working on a tribute show to honor Lopez, said the singer gave her an unforgettable hug and agreed that they did have a similar look. “Hearing her tell me that we look alike made my heart drop with joy!” adds Peña, who had liposuction to look like the star and copied her makeup and hairstyle to perfection. “As a mother of two myself, I know it’s not easy, but you always have a way to pull it off and give the world the best of who you are, and for that I admire and respect you as a mother, strong Latin woman, entertainer, entrepreneur, and leader!,” Peña adds about what she feels she has in common with Alex Rodriguez’s future wife.

Peña’s fans filled the post with comments, some complimenting her on her uncanny resemblance to Lopez (“You too are identical,” one said), while others disagreed that she looked like J.Lo at all (“get down from that cloud, you don’t look like Jennifer Lopez,” a follower wrote).

The impersonator, who has been confused with J.Lo on the street—causing euphoria among J.Lo fans who follow her to get a closer look—admits she wishes she had more time to really get to know the “I’m Real” singer. Some of Peña’s followers also advised her not to put Jennifer Lopez on a pedestal. “What you have is an obsession, it’s not normal,” one follower wrote. “Look for your own way of being, we are all unique. Don’t treat anyone like a God, you can be as great or better than J.Lo, just be you.”