‘Her parents insisted it was a really STUPID idea’: Jennifer Lopez’s Parents Were Against Her Movie Career Because ‘No Latinos Star in Low Budget Movies’
Jennifer Lopez is a household name in the music and acting industry. Her skills made her one of the most successful Latino artists in the world. The artist worth $400 million has often been called out for her impolite behavior, which earned her the title of a diva. Not just that, her successful career was initially not supported by her parents because no Latinos had ever done that.
The 53-year-old singer-actress had always indulged herself in singing and dancing ever since she was a child. That helped her in getting closer to who she is today. Even though her parents encouraged their daughter to perform at home, they never wanted JLo to take the path of a performer.
Jennifer Lopez’s Parents Did Not Want Her To Become a Movie Star
According to reports, in her senior year of high school, Jennifer Lopez got cast in the low-budget indie film My Little Girl which made her realize that she wanted to become a famous movie star. However, when she opened up about her dream to her parents, it was not welcomed. According to her parents, it was a “really stupid” idea for the then-18-year-old year girl to become a movie star as “no Latinos did that“. At that time, the singer did not have the privilege to get directly into any big movie.
Lopez also talked about moving out of her house at a young age to pursue dancing full-time that initially did not go well and caused a rift between the actress and her mother Guadalupe Rodriguez.
“…she and I had a break. I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio,” she said. “I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.'”
Though she chased her dreams and went on to perform minor roles in movies/dramas until she got a breakthrough through her 1997 film, Selena. The actress played the leading role in the movie which finally got her career kickstarted at a fast pace.
She Doesn’t Want To Be Influenced By Others
The Pop culture icon who has often been seen as a person who thinks highly of herself has shared that her self-confidence built after a long time. She used to be easily influenced by people however decided to make her self-esteem high to make better decisions.
“I don’t let the opinions of others really influence how I think about myself. And that took a long time.” She told at a panel discussion with Thrive Global, “In the early part of my career, I did. And it made me feel really bad about myself.”
She once told Vanity Fair how it was crucial to keep believing in themselves which is what kept her moving forward in her career.
Stating how people used to criticize her, “I’m killing it, and then everybody’s like, ‘She can’t sing, she can’t dance, she can’t act, she’s just some pretty face’ or whatever they were saying about me and I started thinking, ‘Yeah, that’s true.’ And it really hurt me for a long time.”
However, she started to focus on herself ignoring the criticisms she received that eventually got her where she is. However, in her entire career, she has been in strings of controversies regarding her colleagues in the acting industry or people associated with her that revealed how overconfident the star is about herself. Stating about her music, she has been accused of stealing/copying other artists’ works.
Source: YouTube
