Jennifer Lopez is now one of the most famous women in the world, dominating both the movie and music scenes, but early on in her career the 50-year-old reveals she was panicked when a film director asked her to take her top off.
Lopez first briefly mentioned the Me Too moment in 2018, but was asked about the situation in more detail by Scarlet Johansson during The Hollywood Reporter‘s actress roundtable with Laura Dern, Lupita N’Yongo, Awkwafina, Renee Zellweger and Johansson.
“A director at a fitting asked me to take my top off,” Lopez told the group. “Because I was supposed to do nudity in the movie.”
“He wanted to see my boobs. And I was like, ‘We’re not on set,'” she continued.
“I said no. I stood up for myself. But it was so funny because I remember being so panicked in the moment. And by the way, there was a costume designer in the room with me. So there was another woman in the room and he says this and I said no.”
She went on to say, “Luckily a little bit of the Bronx came out, and I was like, ‘I don’t have to show you my — No. On the set, you see them.'”
Johansson pointed out that “not everybody would feel that way” when placed in a similar situation with a powerful man.
Lopez agreed: “That’s the thing, because if you give in, in that moment, all of a sudden that person is off and running, thinking they can do whatever they want. And because I put up a little boundary right there and said no, he laid off and then later on apologised.”
“But the minute he walked out of the room the costume designer was like, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry that just happened,'” she continued.
The actresses went on to talk about how “inappropriate” it was that lots of auditions when they were younger were held in hotel rooms with Zellweger saying, “It just kind of afforded an opportunity to be inappropriate if you were so inclined.”
