Revealing her boyfriend's reaction to her romantic comedy film, the 'Limitless' singer explains in details why he can relate to her on-screen character, Maya Vargas.

• Dec 28, 2018

AceShowbiz - Jennifer Lopez's new movie "Second Act" really struck a chord with her boyfriend Alex Rodriguez because he always felt "inadequate" without a college degree - just like the superstar's lead character.

The romantic comedy stars Jennifer as retail employee Maya Vargas, who is inspired to reinvent herself and her career after losing out on a job promotion to a college-educated candidate.

The storyline hit close to home for former baseball ace Rodriguez, who declined a scholarship offer to attend the University of Miami, Florida as a teen in favour of embarking on his career in Major League Baseball, as he secretly felt self-conscious about his lack of higher education.

"He didn't get to go to college because he went into the big leagues at 18 years old and he always missed that (getting his degree)," J.Lo told The Associated Press.

"When he saw it ('Second Act'), he was like, 'I felt inadequate because of that.' He's one of the greatest baseball players of all time who has made some of the biggest contracts, but it's not about that, you can feel inadequate being measured up to others because of their privilege and intelligence."

For Lopez, who also abandoned her college plans to pursue her performing dreams, she was less concerned about what others thought about her school background, and spent more time worrying about whether she was worthy of her early accomplishments, such as making history as the first Latin actress to score a $1 million (£791,400) pay day for her role in the 1997 Selena Quintanilla biopic, "Selena".

"I probably didn't realise how important it was. I was so young at the time. And there was a lot of to-do made about that," Jennifer recalled. "Back then you were kind of ashamed like, 'Maybe I didn't deserve this.' You come from a culture where you don't ask for anything. But now I realise that it was important because our community needed that boost to say, 'Yes, we are just as valuable as any other actor playing a leading role in Hollywood in a big film.'"

"It takes time for us to believe in ourselves. I didn't believe it back then and it happened to me," she continued. "Now I'm at a point in my life where I think, 'Yes, I do have worth and value and I should be compensated in this way or that way and I do deserve to have a good life and I do deserve to have love...' We all are our own activists, we all are our own change, we all are our own vessel to have the life that we deserve, but we have to believe that we deserve it."