Yahoo News How Jennifer Lopez negotiated her high salary in The Wedding Planner
Jennifer Lopez has explained how she managed to secure the salary she wanted after being cast as the female lead in The Wedding Planner.
The singer, actress and film producer says that at the time she was still being hired to play "the maid, the Rosie Perez type roles, the dishwasher, the this, the that", and her role in the 2001 romcom marked a turning point for her professionally.
"I had to kind of break out of that and convince somebody to put me in the first romantic comedy, which I think was The Wedding Planner," said Lopez in a discussion with her business partner and agent, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, for Variety's Power of Women Conversations.
"I was, like you said, kind of hot at the time and you were my agent and you were asking for a certain price that you thought I merited and they were buckling back on us," she said. "Then, [Adam] came to one of my record signings and he said give her whatever she wants."
Lopez, who was born in The Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, opened up about how much the role and the consequent fee meant to her. In 2019, the star made $43 million, according to Forbes. "The idea that somebody like me, from my background, who was a woman, could garner that type of, you know, price in this industry. It was a big deal."
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