If you’re in the entertainment industry, having a high-profile beef with another star is pretty much par for the course when making your way up the industry ladder. But in the case of Jennifer Lopez, Rosie Perez claims that the singing superstar was ruffled her feathers even before she made it big and that they’ve been embroiled in a beef for the past twenty years.
According to the New York Post, Perez made the shocking revelation in her new memoir, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life. Perez explains that she met J. Lo on the set of “In Living Color,” where she was a choreographer. Perez says that she was immediately blown away by Perez in her audition to be a Fly Girl, but she had to convince the show’s creator, Keenan Ivory Wayans, to hire Lopez, who he thought was “chubby and corny.
However, Perez soon regretted her decision to hire Lopez because the other Fly Girls soon began complaining about Lopez’s diva antics.
“All of the girls were coming into my office complaining how she was manipulating wardrobe, makeup, and me, all to her advantage,” Perez writes. However, J. Lo claims they were just “jealous.”
Perez then claims that Lopez turned her diva attitude in her direction as well.
“You pick on me, me and only me, every f––ing day! Every f––ing day! I work my ass off, deliver and you keep pushing me aside, treating me like sh-t! I know I’m good! I’m better than any of these girls, and you know it,” Lopez roared.
Lopez left the show after two seasons, but Perez says that Lopez carried on their beef even after she quit.
“I was blindsided,” writes Perez about “disparaging comments” Lopez made about her after she hit it big. “I’d thought we were cool. I called her up. She wouldn’t pick up. Frustrated, I left her an irate message on her answering machine. Instead of calling me back and hashing it out like friends do, she went on a major talk show and reiterated my lashing.”
Perez claims that two months later she saw J. Lo in a club and Lopez acted if nothing had happened. However, Perez quickly reminded her things were not okay between them.
“Jennifer came over to me, smiling, saying hello as if nothing had happened. I should’ve let it go, played it off, too. Instead, I killed her with my biting tongue,” Perez writes without elaborating.
Perez now says that Lopez’s behavior was disappointing, especially because they are both Puerto Rican women of color in the industry.
“We ladies of color all know how hard it is for us in the entertainment business,” Perez laments in the book. “This kind of sh-t hurts us all and those that follow in our footsteps.”
Check out some other diva battles after the cut. – nicholas robinson
