Jennifer Lopez says women ‘hide’ struggles from their children – after ex Ben Affleck praises her…see more

Jennifer Lopez has opened up about the struggles women often “hide” from their children.

The 55 year old actress was speaking at a London screening event for her new film, Unstoppable.

The biopic, produced by Artists Equity – a company owned by her ex-husband Ben Affleck and his close pal Matt Damon, was shown at Cineworld Leicester Square.

In the film, J-Lo portrays Judy Robles, who became a mum at 16 when she gave birth to Anthony Robles (played by Jharrel Jerome).

Despite being born with one leg, Anthony went on to become a wrestling champ and author.

During a Q&A session at the screening, Jennifer admitted that she initially thought Judy was a “smaller character” in the story, until she met her and realised the story was as much about Anthony as it was about his mother.

She also said the film is “very relatable” for women dealing with “challenging relationships”.

“I think a lot of women have gone through that, and she (Judy) and I talked a lot,” she added.

“We got to know each other.

I wanted her to really feel safe with me (while) sharing details, because as great as the story is, without the struggle, that’s what makes it great.”

Jennifer also revealed: “There was a whole different story there that she was living, that you hide from your children, you protect your children from that.”

“But I thought it was really, really important to not just play the mom who the kids knew, but to play the woman who raised these children and where she found her own strength and her own struggles, and was able to put that and make sure her children… benefited from her life experience, as opposed to being brought down by the things that she was struggling with.