There have been some sleazy, creepy, and heartbreaking stories that have come out as the result of the #MeToo movement, and now Jennifer Lopez is sharing new details on an incident with a director that she’s mentioned in the past.
During The Hollywood Reporters annual Actress Roundtable discussion , which featured several famous actresses, the Hustlers star opened up about how a director once asked her to take her top off during a fitting, rather than on set. When fellow roundtable attendee Scarlett Johansson asked why, J.Lo said she was told it was because she was supposed to be nude in a scene.
“He wanted to see my boobs. And I was like, ‘We’re not on set,’” J.Lo recalled. She then explained how she refused the inappropriate request. “I stood up for myself. But it was so funny because I remember being so panicked in the moment,” she said. “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. Luckily, a little bit of the Bronx came out, and I was like, ‘I don’t have to show you myNo. On the set, you see them.’”
“Thankfully you were like that, because not everybody would feel that way,” ScarJo chimed in.
But J.Lo said it was important that she stood her ground. “If you give in, in that moment, all of a sudden that person is off and running, thinking they can do whatever they want,” she said. “And because I put up a little boundary right there and said no, he laid off and then later on apologized. 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.’”
This isn’t the first time J.Lo has mentioned this. Back in 2018, she told Harpers Bazaar that she was “terrified” at the time. “I remember my heart beating out of my chest, thinking, ‘What did I do? This man is hiring me!’” she said. “It was one of my first movies. But in my mind I knew the behavior was wrong. It could have gone either way for me. But I think ultimately the Bronx in me was like, ‘Nah, were not having it.’”