Jennifer Lopez treated fans to a medley of some of her best-known songs as her career was honoured at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The singer, 49, became the first performer of Latin heritage to be handed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at a ceremony in New York on Monday.

Lopez, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, was introduced by Canadian star Shawn Mendes, who praised her for “breaking down barriers” for women.

Before accepting the award, Lopez donned a gold sequinned outfit and performed a medley of her best known songs, including Jenny From The Block, Love Don’t Cost A Thing and All I Have.

She also brought out the rapper Ja Rule to perform their 2001 hit I’m Real.

Lopez said: “I grew up on MTV. This is a tremendous honour for me. It’s been an incredible journey of dreaming my wildest dreams then watching them come true. Music, acting, performing, this career has always been kind of an obsession for me.”

She added: “I had to forge my own path, make my own rules. Today I stand here, stronger, better than ever.”

Lopez then turned to her 10-year-old twins, Maximilian David and Emme Maribel from her marriage to Marc Anthony, and said they gave her strength to improve.

She added: “The future is even brighter.”

#VMA bound @mtv @jlo @trios22 @lacarba #emme #max

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Lopez arrived at the Radio City Music Hall venue with her partner Alex Rodriguez, who took pictures of her on his phone while she posed on the red carpet.

During her acceptance speech, she described the former baseball player as her “twin soul”.

The Video Vanguard was named after Jackson in 1991 and past winners include David Bowie, Britney Spears and Rihanna.

Lopez also won the award for Best Collaboration for Dinero, the song with DJ Khaled and Cardi B.