Edward James Olmos praises JLo for ‘Selena’ and ‘Office Romance’
Edward James Olmos reflects on his on-screen role as Jennifer Lopez’s father in Selena and Office Romance, and reflects on today’s Latino representation.
Jennifer Lopez reflected on how she experienced a health scare early in her career that changed her approach to work-life balance.
During an appearance on the podcast “SmartLess” on Monday, June 15, the singer and actress recalled how she temporarily lost her eyesight and ability to walk after working nearly 100 days straight while filming the 2002 action-thriller film “Enough.”
Lopez said she first noticed that her heart was “flapping” between takes before she started feeling anxious. She told her co-stars that she was tired and returned to her trailer, where her symptoms worsened.
“All of a sudden I couldn’t see,” Lopez said. “It was like something had passed over my eyes and I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see clearly.” She asked an assistant to take her bodyguard to the trailer, and the bodyguard carried her to her car. “I was just numb,” she added.
Lopez said she thought she was “going crazy” and was taken to the hospital, where doctors determined she was not having a mental health crisis. In fact, it was her body protecting itself after months of burnout.
“I said to the doctor, ‘Am I crazy?’ He said, ‘No, you’re not crazy, you shut up.’
She attributes this episode to her demanding schedule, having to juggle both her acting and music careers. “I think we did four movies in a row, and we recorded our second album, which was really great,” Lopez said. “I was working and filming every day…for hours…and going into the studio at night.”
Her weekend was filled with appearances at press junkets and filming a music video for her 2001 hit album “J.Lo.”
“I remember not keeping track of the 98 consecutive days I worked without a day off. I went back and counted,” she said.
Lopez also reflected on how her breakout role in the 1997 film Selena changed her life and resulted in an unexpected loss of privacy.
“I started having panic attacks,” she recalled. “It was like getting used to fame and realizing that your life had changed beyond your control…and there was no going back.”
