Jennifer Lopez Said She ‘Lost [Her] Sense of Self’ After a Major Career Flop: ‘I Was Eviscerated’
Jennifer Lopez has made unsuccessful films in her career, but she said that few have stung as badly as Gigli. Lopez starred in the 2003 film with Ben Affleck, and they began dating not long after meeting on set. Lopez said the media storm surrounding the relationship and film was so brutal that she began to doubt her worth.
Jennifer Lopez said she doubted her career when ‘Gigli’ flopped
Gigli was an undisputed flop. It fared terribly with critics and audiences alike; it grossed just over $7 million on a $75.6 million budget. Lopez said this was humiliating.
“I was eviscerated,” Lopez told Vanity Fair in 2017.
Lopez said the terrible reviews and nonstop coverage of her relationship with Affleck began to make her doubt her chosen career. It took her a long time to recover.
“I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything,” she said. “And my relationship [with Affleck] self-destructed in front of the entire world. It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again.”
Jennifer Lopez says she has to remind herself she worked hard for her career
While the failure of Gigli was particularly brutal for Lopez, she said she has dealt with feelings of inadequacy over the years.
“I think sometimes people try to make you feel like you’re a fraud,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “And maybe you’re afraid you’re one too.”
She said she has to remind herself that she worked hard for her career and deserves her success.
“Then finally you go, ‘Wait, I’m not lying. I’ve been doing this a long time. This is not a mistake. I worked hard to be here,’” she said. “And you know what? Congratulations to myself. Not in an arrogant way, by any means. It’s like, ‘You’re doing good, baby. Give yourself a break.’”
Ben Affleck said starring in ‘Gigli’ had at least one benefit
Affleck, who dealt with similar press coverage after Gigli, said that the movie was a mess, but the coverage of it had more to do with its failure.
“But really, the truth about that movie and what it taught me was how much everything around a movie sort of dictates the way people see it,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “But for being a movie that’s such a famous bomb and a disaster, very few people actually saw the movie. It doesn’t work, by the way. It’s a sort of horse’s head in a cow’s body.”
Still, Affleck said that working on the film wasn’t all bad.
“But if the reaction to Gigli hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have ultimately decided, ‘I don’t really have any other avenue but to direct movies,’ which has turned out to be the real love of my professional life,” he said. “So in those ways, it’s a gift. And I did get to meet Jennifer, the relationship with whom has been really meaningful to me in my life.”
