Jennifer Lopez Keepin' It Real With Fans

Celebrities who watched as heartsick Jennifer Lopez shed tears on stage after her sad musical "trip down Memory Lane" showed her the love at an after-party at Mohegan Sun's 15th anniversary celebration.

"I just wanted to hug her, but then again I couldn't figure out if I should hug her or get up there and dance with her," said star chef Bobby Flay, who leapt to his feet when Lopez broke down after singing "Until It Beats No More" as her dancers re-enacted scenes with (a faux) J.Lo and her lost loves Marc Anthony, her third husband with whom she split in July, and Ben Affleck, Cris Judd and Diddy.

"She's never held anything back," said the "Throwdown" titan, a fellow New Yorker. "You always know what she's thinking and feeling and you know where she is in her life. That's why she's so successful. She relates to people incredibly well."

Well, La Lopez is such a woman of the people, she shot a Kohl's commercial in the casino's cabaret during the week she, her slots-lovin' mom, Guadalupe, 3-A-year-old twins, Emme and Max, and an enormous entourage holed up on the reservation's resort. But we digress . . .

During the pop diva's 90-minute show -- that Mohegan Tribal Chairman Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum told us she produced especially for the casino's birthday bash -- J.Lo. wore her (gold glittered) heart on her sleeve.

"Let's talk about love. I have some stories," laughed the "American Idol" judge, 42, before she launched into "If You Had My Love." But it wasn't until Jenny from the Block's retrospective of her lost loves that she lost it.

"I want to be like that," said "Glee" gal Lea Michele, who also reported that she told Lopez's mom she would lobby to get her daughter to guest-star on the popular Fox TV show.

"It was really emotional. She put her guard down and was up front with her fans. I was totally surprised."

"Extra" hostess -- and Meffa homegirl -- Maria Menounos, who scored a sit-down with J.Lo before the show, said not to listen to the critics who! think t he singer, who was paid $750,000 to $1 million for the performance, was shedding crocodile tears on stage.

"It's not an act," Maria told us. "She's a special lady. And she taught me how to do the butt shake." (Add shimmy here.)

"Hustle & Flow" hunk Terrence Howard was impressed by J.Lo's "candor and sense of personal being."

"This was the first time I've seen her performance, and it sure won't be the last," he told the Track.

"Real Housewives of New York" gal Kelly Bensimon said she was "touched" and "really, really moved" by J.Lo's show. "Everyone wants true love and she's in that quest, too."

But could you Real-ly show 10,000 strangers that you're walking around with a heavy heart?

"I do it every day," she laughed. "I just don't show that all the time."

File Under: Love's Lab-our's Lost.

(For more celebrity dish from the Mohegan Sun's 15th anniversary bash, go to 'The Assistant' blog at bostonherald.com.)