'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez admits she was scared to dance nearly naked for '300 extras hooting and hollering'
Bumps and bruises don’t scare 'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez. But dancing nearly naked for '300 extras hooting and hollering' did.
Samantha Barbash, who inspired Jennifer Lopez’s character Ramona in “Hustlers,” is slamming the star’s claim she did the film for free.
“I didn’t get paid a whole bunch of money for ‘Hustlers,’” Lopez, 50, told GQ for their 2019 “Men of the Year” issue released on Monday. “I did it for free and produced it,” the actress continued. “I bank on myself, you know? That was like Jenny from the block. I do what I want, I do what I love.”
But Barbash told Fox News she’s not buying it.
This image released by STXfilms shows Jennifer Lopez, in a scene from "Hustlers," in theaters on Sept. 13. Lopez stars as Ramona, a leader of strippers in a Robin Hood-esque scheme to steal from rich men. (AP)
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“I mean, I just laughed,” she told us exclusively. “It’s a bunch of bulls—t, excuse my language.”
She continued: "She definitely got a huge sum of money upfront and on the back end. She’s stating that she bet on herself and she got money on the back end, which is not true. She got money all around.”
Barbash’s attorney, Bruno Gioffre, sent a letter to STX Entertainment, the production company behind “Hustlers,” in September protesting the “flagrant violation of her rights,” and threatening to sue if a deal wasn’t made within 10 days,” Variety reported. In response, STX told the outlet it was entitled to make the movie without Barbash’s permission.
“We will defend our right to tell factually based stories based on the public record and look forward to resolving this matter before a judge,” an STX spokesperson said.
A rep for Lopez, as well as STX, did not return Fox News’ request for comment.
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“She made millions,” continued Barbash. “What is sad is that she failed to recognize that they took advantage of my likeness for profit without asking … Forget about all the money that she made off of my likeness. They just betrayed me in such a horrible manner … As an actress, they’re supposed to shadow the person that you’re playing … I’m a mother and the way she portrayed me, it was horrific. I literally walked out of the movie crying.
“Once they found out about the lawsuit, they tried to say that it was freedom of acting or something like that, it was all public record. I don’t know where cooking drugs with a child in the room is public record, but it was nothing like that. Nothing. The only thing that’s public record is my case, the arrest with the doctor … She just bashed me. They attacked my character for money, and I guess because it’s Hollywood they’re allowed to do that.”
“Hustlers,” based on the 2015 New York Magazine article titled “The Hustlers At Scores,” follows a group of Manhattan strippers as they discover they can make serious money by turning the tables on their wealthy Wall Street clientele. The story has been compared to that of a “Robin Hood” tale in that the ladies would argue they were stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.
“Hustlers” made over $33 million in its opening weekend alone.
Barbash was the alleged mastermind behind a ring of strippers who drugged their clients and took their credit cards, Variety reported. She pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to five years of probation.
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Jennifer Lopez (right) and Constance Wu in "Hustlers." (STX Entertainment)
Barbash, along with her other colleagues, allegedly stole at least $200,000 from men, Vanity Fair reported.
Barbash previously told Fox News at the time of the film’s release she rejected the producers’ offer for the rights to her film because “it was a joke.”
“Put it this way — I have Hermes bags that cost more than what they wanted to give me,” she said at the time.
Barbash told Fox News she is still moving forward with her lawsuit.
“It’s not so much about the money at this point,” she claimed. “I mean, yes, she made millions off of my story. I have never wanted to be in the media at all … I wanted to be very low key [after the case] … I was dragged right back in the media … It’s just bad taste. Jennifer is definitely not for woman empowerment … As a woman, she attacked my motherhood so I do have something with her, but I’m not the villain … It’s done in Hollywood every day where they steal people’s stories and they turn people’s lives upside down.”
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Despite the film’s box office success, Barbash said she’s still moving forward with plans to turn her life story into a TV series where she can finally reveal “the truth” that she believes “Hustlers” failed to show.
“I am doing a series because I want people to know, especially women, what goes on,” she explained. “… How women get taken advantage of every day. Jennifer was more looking at it like there’s just money for her. She doesn’t care about … any of the adult entertainers, dancers in the business. Half of them are single mothers, college students just trying to pay their bills, and this is what they chose to do. Some people don’t have a choice in life. Not everybody’s fortunate.”
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