Celebrity
Jennifer Lopez went for several months without speaking to her mother. She shared why they had to have a “break.”
Jennifer Lopez and her mom, Guadalupe Rodríguez, have a close relationship. Rodríguez has supported Lopez throughout her career, and Lopez said that part of her drive is born from a desire to make her parents proud. Still, Rodríguez hasn’t supported all of Lopez’s choices. When Lopez informed her mother she was going to leave college to pursue a career in show business, she was not happy.
Jennifer Lopez said her mom wasn’t initially thrilled with her chosen career path
Lopez’s parents were caring but strict; they wanted the best for their three daughters. Therefore, when Lopez told her mother that she was going to pursue a dance career, they clashed.
“My mom and I butted heads,” Lopez told W Magazine in 2013. “I didn’t want to go to college — I wanted to try dance full-time. So she and I had a break.”
Lopez moved out of her family’s home and began sleeping on the couch in her dance studio. While she didn’t like the rift between herself and her mother, she wasn’t willing to give up her dreams. Luckily, her dedication paid off.
“I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio,” she said. “I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’ A few months later, I landed a job dancing in Europe. When I got back, I booked In Living Color. I became a Fly Girl and moved to L.A. It all happened in a year.”
Jennifer Lopez said her mom told her to toughen up
Once Rodríguez accepted her daughter’s chosen career path, she pushed her to be the best she could be. She encouraged her to develop a thick skin and not give up in the face of rejection.
“My mom gave me some good career advice,” Lopez told Cosmopolitan in 2013. “When I first started, I went to my first show in Europe. I called her crying because I didn’t get a solo, and she was like, ‘You’re in a tough business. Don’t ever call me crying again; toughen up.’”
She said she inherited her work ethic from her parents
While Lopez’s parents were not initially on board with her career in show business, she said she works so hard to succeed because of them. She watched them work hard while she was growing up and never wanted to let them down. This was a quality she wanted to pass on to her children as well.
“I think a lot about teaching my kids to work hard,” Lopez said. “I’ve learned something about kids — they don’t do what you say; they do what you do. I watched my parents. My dad worked nights, and I was aware of how much he was doing for us. My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn’t let them down. And I had a natural discipline from early on. I was always training for something.”
