Jennifer Lopez, who is 54 years old, has always been under the microscope of the media. She’s been in the spotlight for most of her life, but lately, public opinion about her has been turning negative.
But is it fair to be so critical of JLo right now? Let’s take a closer look.
Jennifer Lopez has come a long way from her beginnings. She was born and grew up in the Bronx, New York, and she’s never forgotten her humble roots. She even celebrates this in her famous song ‘Jenny from the Block.’
In the song, she sings, ‘Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got/I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block/Used to have a little, now I have a lot/No matter where I go, I know where I came from (from the Bronx)’
Fast forward to 2024, Jennifer Lopez has even more wealth than she did when the song came out in 2002. Celebrity Net Worth estimates her net worth at about $400 million!
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After more than 30 years in the entertainment industry, Jennifer Lopez is used to media attention and criticism. But the recent intense focus on her might be new even for her.
In 2020, she performed at the Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira, which became one of the most popular halftime performances ever. The lead-up to this event was also featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary called ‘Jennifer Lopez: Halftime.’
The documentary also highlights Lopez’s role in the 2019 movie ‘Hustlers,’ for which she received an Oscar nomination.
Achieving all this at age 50 is impressive in an industry that often discriminates against older women. With so much success, Lopez was arguably at the peak of her career.
So it’s surprising to see public opinion about her change so dramatically just a couple of years after such high points. One wonders if this shift could be related to Lopez’s latest album, ‘This Is Me…Now,’ released earlier this year.
The music Jennifer Lopez released along with her ‘movie’ project didn’t go over well. The movie got a low 4.2 out of 10 rating on IMDb and got harsh reviews from fans and critics.
I watched the movie myself, and while it wasn’t my favorite, I think the backlash she got was too harsh. Many artists release music and movies that aren’t great. Jennifer took a risk, and it didn’t work out. Criticizing her so harshly seems a bit too much.
I’ve always been neutral about Lopez.
So, I decided to watch the movie and documentary to see why there was so much negativity toward her.
Her film, ‘This Is Me…Now,’ wasn’t really my thing, but it wasn’t the worst movie I’ve seen. The music film has Lopez making fun of herself! It talks a lot about her quick marriages and her pattern of bad relationships. The movie is about Lopez trying to find love for herself instead of needing approval from others. Even though it might not have been done perfectly, it had a good message for viewers.
The documentary, titled ‘The Greatest Love Story Never Told,’ follows Jennifer Lopez as she goes through the challenges of funding her own musical movie project. It shows what it took to make the film.
I found the documentary really heartwarming.
It starts with a big problem: the production studio backed out, and they lost their funding. Lopez made a brave choice to fund the project herself because she believed so much in it and her art.
In the documentary, she talks about how the project was inspired by reuniting with Ben Affleck. They got back together twenty years after their first breakup. The first time they were together, Lopez released her album ‘This Is Me… Then,’ which had songs like ‘Dear Ben,’ a love song to Affleck, who was her fiancé back then.
Reconnecting with her old love inspired Lopez after twenty years to make a new album. That’s how ‘This Is Me… Now’ came about. The album included a song called ‘Dear Ben Pt. II.’ This feels like a full-circle moment not just for her career but also for her personal life.
In the documentary, Ben Affleck talks openly about feeling uncomfortable when Jennifer Lopez makes their relationship a focus of her projects. But he’s come to accept it because he wants to support her. If she feels inspired to do it, he’s okay with that.
If Affleck can accept his wife making their relationship a big part of her projects and sharing their love letters with her collaborators, why do other people get so upset about it?
In the documentary, Lopez is very open and honest. She knows that people might not be eagerly waiting for her next album. She also talks about her fear of failing, which she shares with Affleck on camera. He helps her feel better about those fears.
Affleck plays a big role in the documentary. He helps Lopez write her script, joins her during filming, and supports her every step of the way.
When I watched the documentary, it was clear to me that Jennifer Lopez is a woman deeply in love and excited that she’s back with the person she considers the love of her life. Ben Affleck, who she once thought she might have lost forever, came back to her. Lopez is just a woman overflowing with happiness and wanting to share her love with everyone. Maybe that’s what some people find hard to accept?
Lopez is already a wealthy and successful entertainer who seems to have everything. Now, she also has the guy she loves. Maybe that’s why some people find her annoying.
Scenes from the documentary became popular on social media, and people made fun of Lopez. One scene showed her looking at herself in the mirror, playing with her messy hair, saying, “I like wearing my hair like this. It reminds me of when I was 16 in the Bronx, running around the block. I was a crazy girl with no limits, dreaming big.”
When I watched the documentary myself, I saw Jennifer Lopez as genuinely happy and in love. She seemed sincere to me, just wanting to share her joy with the world. I didn’t notice the scenes that bothered people on social media.
Nowhere in the movie or documentary did I think Lopez was arrogant. Actually, she seemed critical of herself and unsure if her project would succeed.
So why did people dislike her so much?
Maybe it’s because in our society, we often like to criticize women, especially famous ones. Female celebrities often talk about this double standard. Look at Taylor Swift, for example. She’s hugely successful in music, but the media mostly talks about her love life. Or think about Britney Spears and how the media and public treated her unfairly with bad headlines and rude questions, all because she was famous.
Things are getting better for how we treat female celebrities, but there’s still a long way to go. Our treatment of women in the public eye still has too much sexism and misogyny.
So perhaps the public loathing for Jennifer Lopez and the pleasure people are expressing at her recent bout of bad luck in her professional and personal life might have to do something with this too.
We never like to see a woman have everything; so it might feel nice to see her lose it all.