--- title: Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms description: "At the end of the day I was just trying to be myself" canonical: https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-10T20:14:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:42.923Z og:title: Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms og:description: 'At the end of the day I was just trying to be myself' og:url: https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2515d0710fe115df/6988974c0b72e3feb36e9c19/jennifer-lopez-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: American Theatre Wing's 69th Annual Tony Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms twitter:description: 'At the end of the day I was just trying to be myself' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2515d0710fe115df/6988974c0b72e3feb36e9c19/jennifer-lopez-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=7cbb83e1-9f9f-4cad-8289-d19bdbc70fe1&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Dave Quinn / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Dave Quinn / People Contributor Jun 10, 2016 8:14 PM UTC  Actress/Singer Jennifer Lopez attends the American Theatre Wing's 69th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 in New York City. Actress/Singer Jennifer Lopez attends the American Theatre Wing's 69th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 in New York City. Mark Sagliocco—Getty Images by [Dave Quinn / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Dave Quinn / People Contributor Jun 10, 2016 8:14 PM UTC While at an event in Los Angeles on Thursday in support for her hit NBC series [_Shades of Blue_](http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-lopez-shades-of-blue-finale-shocking)_,_ [Jennifer Lopez](http://www.people.com/people/jennifer%5Flopez) told fans about the body shaming she experienced during her early days in Hollywood. “They kept telling me to lose weight,” Lopez recalled, [according to E!](http://www.eonline.com/news/771779/jennifer-lopez-says-she-had-to-fight-to-keep-her-curves). “And I was a dancer and I was athletic and even my manager at the time, who I no longer work with, was telling me, ‘You need to lose weight. You need to be thinner.’ ” “I was like, ‘No I don’t. If I lose any more weight it won’t be me.’ You know what I mean?,” Lopez, 46, added. Lopez was inspired to tell the story when a fan said the “Ain’t Your Mama” singer’s famous curves inspired her to stop wearing sweatshirts around her waist. “It was definitely a fight, and so it’s good to hear that it helped anybody in some way,” Lopez said, thanking the fan for her openness. “At the end of the day I was just trying to be myself without trying to fit into a mold of what everybody else should be.” J. Lo went on to say that she’s glad Hollywood’s evolved. “It’s a different time now, which is awesome to see for me where it is about our differences. It’s about all the diversity. It’s just a more accepting time of everything, whether it’s body type or race or gender. We’ve come a long way,” she said. Lopez also told PEOPLE editorial director Jess Cagle what [she’s learned to love](http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-lopez-what-makes-her-feel-sexy) about herself over the years: “That I’m flawed,” she said. “I actually love that part now … I used to hate it because I’m such a perfectionist.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-lopez-body-shamed?xid=rss-topheadlines) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://People.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/"},"headline":"Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms","datePublished":"2016-06-10T20:14:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:42.923Z","description":"\"At the end of the day I was just trying to be myself\"","url":"https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2515d0710fe115df/6988974c0b72e3feb36e9c19/jennifer-lopez-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dave Quinn / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2515d0710fe115df/6988974c0b72e3feb36e9c19/jennifer-lopez-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Theatre Wing's 69th Annual Tony Awards","caption":"Actress/Singer Jennifer Lopez attends the American Theatre Wing's 69th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Mark Sagliocco—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4364795/jennifer-lopez-hollywood-norms/","name":"Jennifer Lopez Refused To Lose Weight To Fit Hollywood Norms"}}]}] ```