Jennifer Lopez seemed taken aback when an interviewer joked about her advanced age during a screening of her film Unstoppable.
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The 55-year-old star was interviewed by Variety‘s Senior Awards Editor, Clayton Davis, during the Sunday screening when he ripped on the actress and singer about her age.
“I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since Selena,” Davis said in footage via TMZ, referring to her role in the 1997 biopic Selena, which tells the story of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.
“I can’t believe that in 30 years, we’re going to do a retrospective of this. You will be 60 by then, which is…” he continued. Meanwhile, a seemingly chagrined Lopez deadpanned, “Wow.”
Davis surprised Lopez’s fans even further when he joked about Lopez “getting up there” in age, prompting audible gasps from the audience.
Lopez nodded slowly, her voice soft as she replied, “I am.” A voice broke the awkward silence from the crowd, asking, “Did he really just say that?”
Davis quickly tried to get the interview back on course, insisting his jabs were simply a “joke.”
Jennifer Lopez Rolls with the Interviewer’s Jokes About Her Age
However, as Davis pointed out, Lopez is a seasoned professional. She took his jabs about her age in stride, thanking her fans for being with her for a “long time.”
“What a journey this has been, and I honestly feel that the best is yet to come,” she told the audience.
“I honestly feel that my creativity and who I am as an artist is like you said… I also feel that this for me, was another kind of level of going deeper into who I am as a person or as an artist. And these types of roles change you,” she continued.
“They come to you at times in your life when you need them. They help you grow and they heal you in a way,” Lopez added.
Meanwhile, it seems the interview gaffe may have been an attempt at rapport that went off the rails. TMZ pointed out that Lopez and Davis are acquainted. He interviewed her just last month on Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast.
Davis’s comment about age wasn’t completely out of left field, either. It tied into Variety‘s Lopez career retrospective, which celebrated her hard work from the beginning of her career to her latest project, Unstoppable.
Unstoppable is now in limited release and will be available on Prime Video starting January 16, 2025.