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The multi-talented, multi-award-winning Jennifer Lopez has been busy crafting a career path in the entertainment industry since the 1990s. The singer has been as prominent a voice in the early 2000s as her moves have been on the dance floor. But most of all, she was one half of the Bennifer saga that captured the world’s attention and went on to repeat itself 20 years later, only to meet a fated, tragic end.
![Jennifer Lopez in Selena (1997) [Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/04151410/Jennifer-Lopez-in-Selena-1997-Credit-Warner-Bros.-Pictures-1024x512.jpg)
WithSelena(1997), the singer and dancer proved her mettle as an actor and soon transitioned into Hollywood as a leading lady. After spending a life in the public light embroiled in gossip and controversy, Lopez has hardly ever existed outside of pop culture. However, the only aspect of her life that could have overshadowed the Bennifer saga was Lopez’s online feud with Salma Hayek.
Jennifer Lopez & Salma Hayek Go Up Against Each Other
2003 marked the beginning of many ends, one of which included the growth, peak, and fall ofJennifer Lopez‘s formative career relationship with fellow actress,Salma Hayek. Despite both actresses coming up in the industry at a similar time while catering to the same fanbase, there was never an inkling of a potential camaraderie between the pair, let alone a professional friendship.
With her celebrity status at its peak in the early Aughts, Lopez enjoyed a privilege only awarded to a few. The Grammy-nominated star’s rise in Hollywood further contributed to her fame and celebrity status in her career as a singer. Meanwhile, her rising contemporary actress, Salma Hayek began to pose as a worthy rival to her hard-earned status in the industry.
![Salma Hayek in Frida (2002) [Credit: Miramax]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/04151116/Salma-Hayek-in-Frida-2002-Credit-Miramax.jpg)
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Salma Hayek’s role inFrida, which was first offered to Lopez who promptly turned it down, helped elevate her further in the early 2000s. Due to their Latina identities, both Hayek and Lopez’s names began to come up for similar roles, with one actress taking over if the other refused. However, rivalry got the better of Lopez after an unsavory remark led things down the wrong path.
Jennifer Lopez Goes Down the Wrong Path
Jennifer Lopez made a bad call when she turned downFrida, an arthouse-adjacent film that could have made her an A-list actress instead of a B-grade star, with mostly forgettable films likeMaid in ManhattanandAnacondato her name. Hayek, on the other hand, was as much in awe of the artist as she was honored to be chosen as the lead inFrida. The role evrn won Salma Hayek an Academy Award nomination.
But long beforeFridalanded the final nail in the coffin, Lopez herself contributed to the disruption between the pair by degrading Hayek as an actress in a slyly worded jab hidden underneath a superficial compliment. In 1998, Lopez claimed in an interview withMovieline:
We’re in two different realms. She’s a sexy bombshell and those are the kinds of roles she does. I do all kinds of different things.
It makes me laugh when she says she got offered Selena, which was an outright lie. If that’s what she does to get herself publicity, then that’s her thing. Columbia offered me the choice of Fools Rush In or Anaconda, but I chose the fun B-movie because the Fools script wasn’t strong enough.
![Jennifer Lopez in Anaconda [Credit: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/04151557/Jennifer-Lopez-in-Anaconda-Credit-Columbia-Pictures-Sony-Pictures-1024x512.jpg)
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Later, Jennifer Lopez claimed that her comments were blown out of proportion, but the crux of the matter still stands. Despite denigrating the Matthew Perry-Salma Hayek featuringFools Rush In, her“fun B-movie”failed to perform any better than the former. Meanwhile, her comments backfired when Salma Hayek landed an Oscar nomination a mere 5 years after being criticized by Lopez.
Fridais streaming on MGM+ andFools Rush Inis available to buy/rent on Apple TV.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2408
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
