hinted at experiencing ups and downs in her personal life while discussing her role in the movie Unstoppable.
Lopez, 55, recently opened up to Variety about how she related to her character in the biopic, which highlights the life and career of wrestler . Lopez portrays Anthony’s mom, , whose son was born without his right leg.
“I tell her all the time, ‘You need to own who you are and what you’ve done,'” Lopez said. “You’re inspiring every mother who has ever struggled. You really have triumphed. You’ve raised a son who has become a leader, and you deserve credit.’ But she’s very humble.”
Lopez noted that she and Judy felt like “kindred spirits,” adding, “We both grew up Latina in this country. We both had children and have hopes and dreams for them. We both had challenging relationships, which left us holding our families together.”
As single mom Judy supported her son’s wrestling journey — Anthony won the 2011 NCAA individual wrestling national championship in his weight class — she chased big dreams of her own. She went back to school, eventually becoming associate athletic director at Arizona State University, the same college her son attended.
Lopez, meanwhile, faced her own highs and lows with the added challenge of being in the public eye. She was previously married to in 1997 and to from 2001 to 2003. Amid her split from Judd, Lopez moved on with , to whom she was engaged until 2004. The pair called off their wedding due to heightened media attention.
Lopez was subsequently married to for 10 years from 2004 to 2014. The former couple coparent 16-year-old twins Emme and Max.
Following the end of her engagement to in 2021, Lopez and Affleck, 52, rekindled their romance. The twosome got engaged once again in 2022 and held two wedding ceremonies later that year, exchanging vows in Las Vegas before celebrating with friends and family in Georgia. (Affleck was previously married to , with whom he shares three children.)
Us Weekly confirmed in August 2024 that Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck after two years of marriage. A source exclusively revealed one month later that “there’s still a lot of love” between the exes despite their split.
Affleck made his appreciation for Lopez known in November 2024 while praising Lopez’s performance in Unstoppable, which he produced. “Jennifer is spectacular,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
Discussing her role with Variety, Lopez highlighted the “strength” Judy displayed throughout her life. “Women are strong,” she explained. “We have to be. From the minute women are born, we’re always having to prove ourselves, to show we’re good enough. That creates a type of strength. And then a lot of us give birth — and there’s nothing that makes you stronger than doing that.”
