Jennifer Lopez & ‘Unstoppable’ Mum Judy Robles Interview Each Other

How would you describe motherhood in three words?

In three words?

A blessing, challenging, beautiful.

You know, it's like a beautiful challenging blessing.

I think it's the hardest job anybody could ever have

is to be a parent in this life.

Hi, British Vogue.

I am Jennifer Lopez

and I'm here with Judy Robles,

who I play in my new film, Unstoppable.

The story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler who was

born with one leg

and overcomes the odds along with his mother, Judy Robles

and the rest of his family and their story.

What were the similarities between our lives

and characters that impacted how you played this role?

I think the most important thing when we first talked was

that we were both moms.

That part of it, I think, was the basis of this role.

The relationship between you and Anthony

really for me informed and became the heart and the soul

of the film.

Being a mom and knowing what it is to want to

give the best to your children and put forward,

you know, your best face for them all the time,

but also be struggling as a woman

and in relationships and in life and with your own dreams

and your own aspirations and what that means

and what that feels like,

I think for me was the biggest thing, right?

I think that when we first spoke,

that that was something that did resonate with me.

Because you like have so much love for your own kids

that you understood my love for mine.

So that meant a lot. Absolutely.

What made it exciting as an actor for me to play is,

you know, kind of talking to Anthony and your kids

and them saying, you know, like, my mom was the best mom.

She's always happy and always making everything fun

and joyful and all of that.

And then talking to you and saying,

you know, this was really hard.

I felt like this in the marriage.

I felt sometimes like this with the kids

and all of those things that you gave me,

you know, to me I was like, okay,

there's so much going on here, and I understood it.

I mean, as a mom you always wanna put, like I said,

your best foot forward for your kids.

You wanna lift them up.

That doesn't stop you from being a human being

who struggles.

What is the most difficult scene

in Unstoppable for you to watch?

Ooh,

I think the parts with my ex,

truthfully, not the moments

where it was the abusive parts,

it was the moment in the kitchen

where I reveal a tattoo when my son walks in.

That was hard.

Because that was messy.

But that was me.

And I wanted to keep trying.

I knew I shouldn't have been in that moment.

I knew that he didn't deserve another chance.

I knew that he wasn't going to change.

And my son walks in and sees me laughing and happy

and it broke his heart.

That was the hardest scene for me to watch

because there was so much...

So much reality.

It's a complicated moment in life,

that makes the story so triumphant,

to see you sitting here today

'cause we all make mistakes

and we all do things that we wish we hadn't

when it comes to our kids.

And I think that every mom in the world can look at that

and see that you can come out the other end

and become literally, Dr. Judy.

[Jennifer and Judy laugh]

And I understand why it's difficult for you,

and thank you for allowing us to do that

because I feel that very deeply

because I've been in the same spot at times like,

hmm, maybe I shouldn't be giving this person a chance,

or, you know what I mean?

Maybe I should end this right now.

And then you go back

and I don't think there's a woman on earth

who hasn't been in that position or even men.

What was the most memorable scene you shot

for the film and why?

Probably, you know, the unstoppable scene, right?

Where I tell him, you are unstoppable.

Because I feel like that is something that you

really made your son feel.

And the reason you felt that and made him feel that

is because he inspired you.

And to me that was the key

to your guys' relationship is like you having him

at such a young age at 16,

and him being born with only one leg

and the two of you having to grow up

and you having to grow up so quickly, right.

And become a mom, and how your main job was to like,

love him and inspire him and make him believe in himself

and in the beautiful way and poetic way that life is.

He wound up doing the same for you.

As a mother,

how did you cope with watching your child compete in

such a physically demanding and at times painful sport?

Anthony has always been competitive since he was little.

So it wasn't a big deal to me,

but then him, you know, alongside someone across the mat

who was wanting to hurt him, who's wanting to take him down,

that was really hard.

But also, I remember you telling me

when you first saw his very first match

and that he wanted to wrestle

and you saw him kind of like put his crutches down

and hop out onto the mat.

You were like, oh my God.

This other kid, like you said,

on the other side of mat

ready to kind of like take him down?

Yeah, he had no experience and he was the only one there

and I was so proud of him.

Yes, and that's what I was gonna say,

instead of like being like totally scared,

which I'm sure you were-

Oh, terrified all the time.

Yeah, terrified.

But you were like, he's really doing this.

Like right there was that kind of spirit,

not worrying about what you don't have,

but what you do have and going out there

and being unafraid to kind of compete in life.

Yeah, and he had spent so much time

with people staring at him and looking at him

for missing a leg.

But then he was brave enough to hop

to the center of the mat without his crutches,

without something he'd leaned on

and then be the focal point of a match all by himself.

The film is about overcoming challenges.

What can you share with our audience about

how to deal with seemingly impossible challenges?

Wow you know, you get hit with so many things in life,

and I think, like Anthony said,

many times we're always wrestling with something.

I think the way I things is not by thinking of them

as happening to me, but happening for me.

And what is the lesson that needs

to be learned in the moment.

When I think of things in that way

and stay in kind of a more positive mindset about it,

it's easier to kind of embrace it for the lesson that it is,

because that's really what our hardships are in life.

What am I supposed to learn here?

There are no coincidences.

This is not happening.

You know, just randomly it's happening for a reason.

What can I learn and how can I come out the other side

better, stronger, more knowledgeable,

and kind of evolve and grow from this point?

That's a great perspective.

And I think that this film allowed me to see my life,

the mistakes that I made,

because it's not like from one day to the next

there's this challenge

and then you have to overcome or you do and you're like,

oh, I'm way better the next day.

Like it was very real

because I was stuck in that marriage for 20 years

and I went back and forth for 20 years

and like what did I learn from that?

I'm still learning from that.

Like all of those scars that I had.

So the perspective you have is like dead on

because it's like, okay, you know,

yes, you deal with the hurt,

but you can't dwell and sit in there.

You have to move forward-

Or the regret, right?

You can't, you have to kind of go,

that's where I was at that time.

There was things that I needed,

there was a part of my soul that needed to grow.

Yeah. And it grew

in its perfect timing, in its perfect way when I was ready.

That's part of the journey I think of life

and of healing those parts of ourselves

that we don't understand sometimes.

Thank you so much British Vogue for having us.

Bye.

[upbeat music]