Jennifer Lopez Was Advised Against Joining American Idol Judging Panel

Before Jennifer Lopez signed on to sit on the American Idol judging panel, she was allegedly warned against taking the gig.

“I’ll do things that could be risky because I believe that they’re going to turn out OK. I’d done all these big movies and made these albums and now they’re asking me to do reality TV,” Lopez, 55, recalled to Nikki Glaser in an Interview magazine profile published on Wednesday, October 9. “I’ve had kids [twins Max and Emme, 16, with ex-husband Marc Anthony] and I haven’t worked for a couple of years. American Idol was a big show at the time.”

She added, “It really comes down to, ‘What do I think I can bring to something?’ When all of my advisors were like, ‘Don’t do this, you’re going to be reduced to just a reality star.’ … It was looked down upon.”

Lopez further claimed that certain members of her team, whom she declined to name, cautioned her against taking the judging role out of fears that she wouldn’t get hired to star in a movie “ever again.”

“I was just like, ‘No. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. I think I have something to contribute,’” Lopez stated. “I love music and I love mentoring people, and I wanted to share the things that I knew about the business. So it became more about, ‘What do I think I can do with this?’”

Lopez served as a judge on Idol for seasons 10, 11, 13 and 16. The performer initially left Idol ahead of 2013’s season 12 because of other work commitments but later returned for Fox’s final three seasons. (Idol later moved to ABC after Fox canceled the singing competition show.)

While speaking with 40-year-old Glaser, Lopez noted that she initially signed on to Idol because of a “gut” feeling.

“When I’m choosing things, even if they seem like not the best idea to everybody else if I feel it in my gut that it’s the right thing to do, nobody can talk me out of it,” Lopez said. “It’s the same thing when I went to Vegas. They were like, ‘That’s where entertainers go to die.’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And it launched me into a whole new part of my life.”

Lopez headlined a nearly two-year residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino from January 2016 to September 2018.

“I know what I could do. I know the type of show that I’m going to make in Vegas, and I know that we’re going to invite all these people and everybody’s going to come, people who would have never bought a ticket to one of my tours,” she explained. “And all of that, little by little, starts building a new momentum. If they offer you the biggest thing in the world and you’re like, ‘I don’t think I have anything to offer to this,’ then you have to go, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do it.’”

While Lopez stood her ground when it came to the likes of Idol and her Sin City show, there have been certain projects that she’s turned down.

“There’s been movies like that. Sometimes they’ll offer you tons of money to do a commercial or a private show, and you’re just like, ‘No,’” the Unstoppable star said. “They’re like, ‘Please do it! We all want the commission!’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t do that.’”