It’s fair to say that Jennifer Lopez was fancying herself as a serious act-or back in the late 90s.
Back in 1998, the chart-topping singer and star of films like Maid In Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and Marry Me was asked for her thoughts on some of her peers in the acting industry by Movieline – and it’s safe to say that she pulled no punches.
And her comments have now come back to haunt her in a post on X by journalist Alex Abad-Santos that’s already been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
“I’m the best,” Jen declared early on in the interview with a laugh, before adding: “I feel I can do anything―any kind of role. I’m fearless.”
Later, she turned her attention to some of her fellow actors, beginning with Salma Hayek.
“We’re in two different realms,” she began. “She’s a sexy bombshell and those are the kinds of roles she does. I do all kinds of different things. It makes me laugh when she says she got offered Selena [Jennifer’s breakthrough film], which was an outright lie.”
Jen then branded Cameron Diaz “a lucky model who’s been given a lot of opportunities I just wish she would have done more with” and claimed she’d “never” been a big fan of Winona Ryder’s work.
As for Gwyneth Paltrow?
“Tell me what she’s been in?” Jen claimed. “I swear to God, I don’t remember anything she was in.
“Some people get hot by association. I heard more about her and Brad Pitt than I ever heard about her work.”
The Jenny From The Block singer did have some praise for “good actress” Claire Danes (even if she did think she sees “a lot of the same thing with every character she does”), while concluding that Madonna is not a good actor.
“Acting is what I do, so I’m harder on people when they say, ‘Oh, I can do that – I can act’,” Jen said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, don’t spit on my craft’.”
Despite her comments about the Queen of Pop, J-Lo and Madonna almost crossed paths just five years later, when she was invited to be part of the Like A Virgin singer’s iconic performance at the 2003 VMAs.
She claimed last year: “I was filming a movie in Canada, and we had met – me, her and Britney — to do it at her home. And then I just couldn’t get off the film. So, we couldn’t do it.”
Interestingly, the shoe was on the other foot earlier this year, when Ayo Edebiri’s unflattering past comments about J-Lo were dug up ahead of the pair’s joint appearance on Saturday Night Live.