What left Gloria Gaynor stunned ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors? Disco icon celebrates historic moment as the only female honoree

Gloria Gaynor is one of the several artists who received the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors. President Donald Trump hosted the event on Sunday night, December 7, in Washington, D.C. at the "request of a certain television network." 

But before the Sunday night festivities, Gaynor admitted that, while thrilled, she was in shock after hearing that the Kennedy Center board had noticed her. She said in an exclusive interview with People, published on December 8: 

"I was in shock. I was literally in shock. Are you serious with me?"

She finds it "so wonderful" to be among the "other great artists" the Kennedy Center is honoring this year. Gloria Gaynor said that she feels "blessed" to be among the names of other artists who have their fair share of accomplishments. 

But it's not only because she's one of the honorees. Gaynor is also the only female artist selected to receive the prestigious award this year.

Other honorees include Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, country music icon George Strait, Broadway and West End legend Michael Crawford, and KISS: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss. 

Gloria Gaynor said it was "wonderful" to meet Donald Trump ahead of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors

Gloria Gaynor spoke to People on the red carpet before Sunday night's Kennedy Center Honors. She said in the interview that she met with President Donald Trump a day before as he welcomed the 2025 honorees to the White House. And according to Gaynor, it was "wonderful' to meet the president. She said: 

"It was wonderful. It was, I mean, like the third or fourth time meeting him. I'd met him before, and he's always very personable and very pleasant."

She said that Trump didn't reveal what she was chosen for the honor for, but that the president said that he "believed that [her] song had done so much for so many people."

It was the same sentiments Trump shared during the 2025 honorees announcement earlier in the year. He called Gloria Gaynor "one of the most revered singers of the American disco era."

He also described her 1978 chart-topper, I Will Survive, as an "unbelievable song and said that he had heard it a thousand times like everyone else.

Trump also said that the song is "one of the few that gets better every time you hear it." 

During the event, Gloria Gaynor said that it "feels like a dream" to get an honor from the Kennedy Center. She also said, "To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle," per AP News. 

Gloria Gaynor released 20 studio albums and 53 singles over the course of her career. I Will Survive remains her No.1 hit on the charts, but Never Can Say Goodbye is a close second.