Jennifer Lopez was inspired to join the Black Lives Matter protests in June after her son reminded her of her platform.
Jennifer Lopez
The 51-year-old singer and actress and her fiancé, Alex Rodriguez, joined millions of others in June last year in protesting for equal rights and an end to police brutality, following the death of unarmed Black man George Floyd.
And now, Jennifer has revealed she felt like she “had to contribute” after her 12-year-old son Max – whom, along with his twin sister Emme, she has with her ex-husband Marc Anthony – reminded her that people “listen” to her.
She said: “The whole thing that was happening with police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, Latinos at the border - you feel like you had to contribute.
“I remember my son coming to me and saying, ‘You know, Mom, some of my YouTubers tell us what we should do, and I listen to them. You have a lot of people that feel that way about you.’
“It was his way of saying that I should do something. He probably heard me complaining about what was happening in the world. I said, ‘I want you guys to make me the signs because Mommy wants to get out there too.’”
The ‘Hustlers’ star found it “scary” being amongst the protestors because she wasn’t used to large crowds, but admitted it was “beautiful” to see so many people from all walks of life coming together.
She added: “I’m not used to being in big crowds like that - I’m always on the stage. [My life is] car to back door to security to this to that. It was scary. I got a little anxiety, like, ‘How do you get out of the crowd?’ Once I got [into it], to be in the masses like that, I loved it. Like, ‘Wow, there’s a movement happening.’ So many people, different ages, races - it was a beautiful thing.”
And Jennifer would encourage everyone to “get involved” and help “make changes” to the world, because she insisted “we can’t just keep living our lives and thinking everything’s going to work itself out”.
Speaking to Allure magazine, she said: “We can’t just keep living our lives and thinking everything’s going to work itself out. No, it’s not going to work out. We have to get involved. We have to make changes. That was why 2020, as difficult and scary as it was, was so necessary. What we realized is that we’re all in this together. This is about our kids growing up in a world where they feel comfortable, where things are equal, and there’s more kindness and love than hate and division.”
Tagged in Jennifer Lopez