Jennifer Lopez Wept With Insecurity Every Night While Filming ‘Selena,’ Claimed Her Ex-Husband

In 1997, Jennifer Lopez’s life changed when she starred in Selena. Her celebrated performance launched her to stardom and irrevocably changed her life. According to her first husband, Lopez hadn’t predicted the positive impact the film would have on her career. He said Lopez was wracked with doubt every time she left the set.

Jennifer Lopez did not feel confident while filming ‘Selena’

Ojani Noa and Lopez had been dating for several months when she booked a role as Selena Quintanilla Pérez. He traveled with her to the shoot in Texas and said she spent most nights stressed about her performance. Her career had been on the rise before this, but this was a major opportunity for her.

“We’d been together about six months when she got Selena,” he told the Daily Mail. “We went to San Antonio, Texas, for the shoot and every night we’d come back to the hotel and she’d collapse in my arms filled with insecurity.”

Noa claimed that Lopez worried she wasn’t right for the part.

“She didn’t think she was good enough,” he said. “In the middle of the night she would burst into tears. I comforted her and said she was the best, that she was killing it.”

Jennifer Lopez later said ‘Selena’ changed everything for her

Though Lopez reportedly had concerns about her performance, she received rave reviews for her part in the film. Lopez said her desire to portray Selena accurately made her more comfortable.

“At that point in my career, I had never performed onstage in front of 30,000 people. I felt a huge responsibility to do everything right and to play Selena in the way that her fans and her family would love,” she told InStyle, adding, “I wanted to document her in history in the most beautiful way. I remember feeling comfortable up there and in my own skin and that performing came naturally to me.”

She acknowledged that her success in the film completely changed her life.

“I feel like everyone was making a statement,” she told Variety. “It was a Latin movie, starring a Latin girl, playing a Latin artist and a Latin director [Gregory Nava]. And it was like, ‘She’s worth this.’ It was a statement to the world.”

She felt insecure while working on another early project

Not long after she starred in Selena, Lopez began working on her debut album, On the 6. A producer said she was very unsure of herself as they recorded.

“She changed drastically, in a good way, from the last record,” co-executive producer Cory Rooney told Rolling Stone. “Last album, she had to be convinced, even eighty percent through, that she could do it.”

Lopez was reportedly much more comfortable when recording her second album. Rooney said she walked into the studio as though she’d been making albums all her life.