Jennifer Lopez to Early Critics of Her Curves: ‘You’re The One With The Problem’

jennifer lopez cosmoJennifer Lopez has enjoyed a long and successful career in show business, from films to music to numerous endorsement deals. Lopez’s journey however was not without a few bumps in the road, namely surrounding her body image. In the latest issue of Cosmopolitan for Latinas, the 44-year-old multi-talented performer revealed that early on her career she had to stand her ground against Hollywood elites who pressured her to slim down her curvaceous body.

“Early on, my family really made me love who I was and what I looked like. My body was nothing out of the ordinary in my neighborhood,” explained Lopez, who grew up in the Bronx, New York, with her Puerto Rican parents. “When I first started on television [as a Fly Girl on “In Living Color”], people, and even my own manager at the time, would tell me I had to make all of these changes.”

“But you have to stand up and say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me or my shape or who I am, you’re the one with the problem'” she says. “And when you can really believe that, all of a sudden other people start believing too.”

Bravo!

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top