Jennifer Lopez admitted she took a career risk when she became a judge on “American Idol.”
The “Dance Again” singer, 55, looked back on the time she spent working on the FOX singing competition series in a conversation with comedian Nikki Glaser for Interview Magazine published Wednesday.
“I’ll do things that could be risky because I believe that they’re going to turn out okay. I’d done all these big movies and made these albums and now they’re asking me to do reality TV,” said Lopez, who sat at the judges table on the show from 2011 to 2016.
“I’ve had kids and I haven’t worked for a couple of years,” she continued. “American Idol was a big show at the time. It really comes down to, what do I think I can bring to something? When all of my advisors were like, ‘Don’t do this, you’re going to be reduced to just a reality star.’”
Lopez explained that, at the time, doing “American Idol” or any other reality show “was looked down upon.”
“‘Don’t do that or nobody will ever hire you for a movie ever again,’” she recalled her team telling her at that point in her career, adding, “And I was just like, ‘No. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. I think I have something to contribute.’”
Lopez went on, “I love music and I love mentoring people, and I wanted to share the things that I knew about the business. So it became more about, ‘What do I think I can do with this?’ When I’m choosing things, even if they seem like not the best idea to everybody else, if I feel it in my gut that it’s the right thing to do, nobody can talk me out of it.”
“It’s the same thing when I went to Vegas,” she also said, referring to her Sin City residency at Planet Hollywood that ran from 2016 to 2018. “They were like, ‘That’s where entertainers go to die.’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And it launched me into a whole new part of my life.”
Lopez was a judge on “American Idol” alongside Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler, and then Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr.
Her five-year stint on the show sparked a career resurgence for Lopez, who dropped her hit single “On the Floor” and was cast in the police drama series “Shades of Blue” during that time.
Afterwards, she became a judge on another reality competition series, NBC’s “World of Dance,” and starred in the film “Hustlers,” which earned her rave reviews and nominations for a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.
In the Interview Magazine story, Lopez clarified that there have been times when she’s turned down work opporotunities.
“There’s been movies like that,” she said. “Sometimes they’ll offer you tons of money to do a commercial or a private show, and you’re just like, ‘No.’ They’re like, ‘Please do it! We all want the commission!’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t do that.’”
Lopez also opened up about her split from husband Ben Affleck after two years of marriage in the interview, revealing that she’s “excited” to be single again.
“I’m not looking for anybody, because everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I f–king do when it’s just me flying on my own,” she said.
“American Idol” now airs on ABC. The judges for the upcoming season, set to premiere in early 2025, are Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood, who replaced Katy Perry.
