Matthew McConaughey Once Felt That Jennifer Lopez Was ‘Absolutely’ a Diva: ‘She Owns It’
In the earlier days of her career, Jennifer Lopez cultivated the reputation of being a diva. Although she debunked most of the stories that supported her having a diva-like attitude, her Wedding Planner co-star believed otherwise. But Matthew McConaughey felt she channeled a ‘diva’ attitude in a positive way.
Jennifer Lopez didn’t feel she deserved her moniker as a diva
Lopez wasn’t fond of the diva label that some in the media pinned on her during her career. She felt that it highlighted a double standard prevalent in Hollywood.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how much more well-behaved we have to be than men,” Lopez once said on The Hollywood Reporter’s Actress Round Table. “I did get a moniker of being a diva, which I don’t deserve because I’ve always been a hard worker.”
In an interview with GQ, the Hustlers star speculated where these diva rumors might have stemmed from.
“Because I was Latin, and I was a woman, and I was Puerto Rican, and they were not giving me the same pass that they gave everybody else at certain times. It’s hard to remember specifics. I wish I could,” she said. “But honestly, I don’t like to harp on the negative or feel sorry for myself. You know, it, it just is what it is.”
But through experience, Lopez learned how to combat the negative stigma surrounding her.
“There were moments in my life where it got to me more. Where it kind of took me down for a second. But it never took me down for very long. The energy was always in just getting better, doing more growing, and driving myself. To be better, all the time. And creating more opportunities for myself. Just, be resilient. They’ll give up,” she added.
Matthew McConaughey once felt that Jennifer Lopez was absolutely a diva, but in a good way
As some know, McConaughey and Lopez collaborated in the 2001 romantic comedy, The Wedding Planner. In an interview for the film, the topic of Lopez being a diva was once again approached. Some of her reported diva antics included bringing an entourage of 60 people to an event. She also allegedly ordered others not to make eye contact with her while appearing on a radio show.
Lopez addressed these rumors and many others while speaking to Vanity Fair.
“Sometimes when I travel and I’m going to a show or something, I have my hair and makeup people come, and I have a security guy in front of me, and I have Benny, my manager, with me. My publicist, Alan, is there that day. And my family decides to come along,” Lopez shared. “Then it starts looking crazy. But on the real, every day, it’s not like that. It’s not like I have an entourage that travels with me at all times and that’s how it has to be or I won’t work.”
Her Wedding Planner co-star also chimed in on Lopez’s diva reputation. Having worked closely with her for the film, he was able to gauge the Jersey Girl actor’s personality.
“People say, ‘Oh, she’s a diva.’ I always say, ‘Well, I don’t know what your definition is. But by my definition, Absolutely,’” McConaughey said. “She owns that. She knows exactly what she wants. She’s not a diva in the pain-in-the-ass sense. She’s a diva in that she knows exactly what she wants and she wants to have it, down to the most minute detail. She has an ability to turn on what she wants in an instant.”
Ben Affleck thought it would be a pain in the ass working with Jennifer Lopez
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez first got together to work on the film Gigli, where their romance developed soon after. But because of Lopez’s reputation, he admitted he wasn’t looking forward to teaming up with the megastar.
“I probably secretly thought like, you know, this is going to be a pain in the ass working with this woman,” Affleck once told NBC News. “I’ll try to get through this thing and just, you know.”
But like other co-stars, Affleck discovered Lopez’s reputation didn’t match the person.
“And then it still wasn’t that way, and then at a certain point, I thought that’s a shame, you know what I mean? This woman kind of has a bad rap,” he confided.
