Jennifer Lopez gets candid about domestic violence role in ‘Unstoppable'

At the Toronto International Film Festival, Jennifer Lopez shared with audiences during a Q&A session the reason why she felt compelled to take the role of domestic violence in her new movie, Unstoppable.

Per the New York Post, the 55-year-old star who portrays Anthony Roble’s mother, Judy, shared that the character's struggle with domestic violence was “similar” to her, that compelled her to take on the role.

Lopez said, “When I read the script, I felt like so many women including myself could relate to the struggles that she had gone through in her life. And the story, being a Latino story, being so inspiring. It was something that kind of grabbed me. And I was, like, OK, this is really really interesting.”

“But then when I met Judy [Robles] — we met over zoom — I was, like, I really need to talk to this person. Thank God they’re alive! Because I’ve played real life people too. I played Selena, I played Puchi. And I didn’t have, I wasn’t able to speak to them obviously. So this was a different kind of experience," the Atlas actor added.

Lopez continued, “Just talking to her I realized we’re almost the same person in a weird way even though we’re so different and had such different lives — that at the core, in the heart of who we were, first we were moms. And beyond that we had similar struggles.”

“It was a pleasure and an honor to not only meet but to portray a woman who poured her heart, her soul and her blood literally into her children, teaching them that nothing is more important than family," she further noted, expressing her sentiments for working in Unstoppable.

“Against all odds and obstacles she rose leading by example to show her children that they too could be unstoppable,” Lopez noted, explaining her character in the movie.

Unstoppable is based on a par of Anthony Roble’s memoir of the same name. The upcoming movie recounts Judy’s abuse caused by her husband, who was not the biological father of Anthony.

It is also pertinent to mention that Lopez produced Unstoppable in collaboration with her estranged husband, Ben Affleck, from whom she filed for divorce on August 20, 2024, and his lifelong friend, Matt Damon.