Jennifer Lopez Said No When Director Asked to See Her Boobs During Audition
In a new interview, J.Lo reveals a shady request made by a director during an audition and says she panicked but ultimately rejected his inappropriate demand.
AceShowbiz –
Jennifer Lopez stood up to an unnamed director when he asked to see her boobs during an audition.
The actress and singer was stunned by the request and flatly refused, telling The Hollywood Reporter her tough Bronx, New York background came out that day.
“He wanted to see my boobs and I was like, ‘We’re not on set!’,” she explains. “I said no, I stood up for myself. But it was so funny because I remember being so panicked in the moment.
“And by the way, there was a costume designer in the room with me – so there was another woman in the room… Luckily, a little bit of the Bronx came out, and I was like, ‘I don’t have to show you my… No. On the set, you see them.’ ”
J.Lo, who didn’t name the film or the director, first made the big reveal during a 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, recalling the audition was for one of her early movies, adding, “I was terrified. I remember my heart beating out of my chest, thinking, ‘What did I do? This man is hiring me!’ ”
“But in my mind I knew the behaviour wasn’t right. It could have gone either way for me.”
She opened up about the incident again during an actresses roundtable event for The Hollywood Reporter, during which she, Laura Dern, and Renee Zellweger recalled all the films they tested for in hotel rooms for busy directors. The practice is now considered part of Hollywood’s politically-incorrect and seedy past, thanks to the #MeToo movement and the many actresses who have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate behaviour against sleazy moviemakers in private suites.
Dern tells her peers, “I started auditioning at 10, 11 years old. I listen to the next generation, saying, ‘People used to have auditions in hotel rooms?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, every single time, waiting in the lobby of a hotel and the director is waiting for you in the room to have a chemistry read.’ ”
Lopez adds, “Yeah, it didn’t seem weird. (And in) actors’ houses… And sometimes it was not inappropriate at all. It was totally professional.”
And Zellweger admits she understood it was strictly business, explaining, “That was convenient if they (directors and casting directors) were looking out of town or whatever.”