Jennifer Lopez has always been a multi-talented artist who can act, sing, and dance. However, she hasn’t always been seen for her skill. Instead, her relationships took center stage, and now Lopez is speaking out about the negative impact being treated as tabloid fodder had on her.
Throughout a series of high-profile relationships, gossip magazines drowned out recognition for her talent in favor of speculation about who she’s dating, whether they’re happy together, if anyone is cheating, and any other invasive details about her private life. Lopez admits that it affected her for a long time. “I was talked about in a way that discredited any sort of talent I had,” Lopez said to CBS Sunday Morning. “It was hard because I started thinking, ‘Well, maybe I am a fraud.’” She explained how impostor syndrome and feelings of self-doubt are common in artists. The constant barrage of tabloid coverage only magnified those feelings for Lopez, who never viewed her relationships as an endless source of drama and salacious news.
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“I don’t look at them as eras in that way. I look at them as these were people in my life who I really cared about and fell in love with...we had very special and very unique relationships,” said Lopez, who believes that realness is what captured the public’s attention.
Type-casting is common with celebrities, but it is reductive and creates a flattened 2D-version of a living, breathing, feeling person. “You feel helpless,” said Lopez. “Like, how do I counter all of this stuff that’s being said? But you can’t. You just have to live your life.”
Now, Lopez chooses not to acknowledge the tabloid gossip. She is set to take the stage at the 2020 Super Bowl alongside Shakira. Additionally, she is one step closer to a likely Oscar nomination for her role in Hustlers, snagging the Spotlight award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival last month. Rather than focusing on the headlines, Lopez focuses on the things that matter, adding, “I just have to live my life in a way that I’m proud of, and everything is going to be okay.”