Art & Entertainment

Jennifer Lopez Discusses Body Shaming In Her Netflix Documentary 'Halftime'

JLo opens up about how she was about to leave the industry because of the comments that used to be passed at her related to her body. She is seen discussing this in her documentary 'Halftime.'

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Jennifer Lopez
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Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez was on the verge of leaving show business after being teased for her curvy buttocks. The 'Booty' singer explained that she rose to stardom at a period when the celebrity body ideal was super-skinny and that not fitting the pattern contributed to her deciding to give up her aspirations.

"There were many times where I was just like, 'I think I'm just going to quit.' I had to really figure out who I was. And believe in that and not believe in anything else," she said. "When I started working, the beauty ideal was very thin, blonde, tall, not a lot of curves. I grew up around women with curves so it was nothing I was ever ashamed of."

"It was hard when you think people think you're a joke - like a punchline," the 52-year-old, who shares 14-year-old twins Max and Emme Muniz with ex-husband Marc Anthony, reports aceshowbiz.com. "But it wound up affecting things in a way that I never intended."

Lopez added in her new Netflix documentary 'Halftime', which premieres on Tuesday, June 14 that her fiance Ben Affleck was shocked at the body scrutiny she was under. Affleck could be seen in the film saying "I said to her once, 'Doesn't this bother you?' And she said, 'I'm Latina, I'm a woman, I expected this.'"

The film also follows Lopez in early 2020, when she is furious because she was forced to divide her Super Bowl halftime performance with Shakira that year. Lopez branded their joint show the "worst idea in the world" in her new one-off film, directed by Amanda Micheli.

Lopez, who has sold 80 million records, and starred in almost 40 films including 'Out of Sight' alongside George Clooney, said she was also ordered to compromise on using the performance to slam Donald Trump.

The day before the show, bosses told her to lose cages on stage containing child actors, as a comment on the then-U.S. president's border force locking immigrants behind bars. She refused and ranted in a row with producers, "I'm trying to give you something with substance, not just us out there shaking our f****** a****."

[With Inputs from IANS]