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"Jennifer Lopez has opened up about dealing with her body image at the beginning of her career. The singer and actress explained how her early managers would ask her to make changes to her body in order to further her career.  She told Cosmopolitan for Latinas: &amp;quot;Early on, my family really made me love who I was and what I looked like. My body was nothing out of the ordinary in my neighborhood. &amp;quot;When I first started on television [as a Fly Girl on In Living Color], people, and even my own manager at the time, would tell me I had to make all of these changes. &amp;quot;But you have to stand up and say, &amp;#039;There&amp;#039;s nothing wrong with me or my shape or who I am, you&amp;#039;re the one with the problem!&amp;#039; And when you can really believe that, all of a sudden other people start believing too.&amp;quot; Speaking about which Latinos inspired her while growing up, she said: &amp;quot;I was really moved watching West Side Story as a young girl and seeing Puerto Ricans star in it. &amp;quot;Even though it wasn&amp;#039;t the best depiction of us, they still have the passion and love that I relate to - not to mention the singing and dancing! Rita Moreno became a hero to me.&amp;quot;  On her favourite thing about being Latina, she added: &amp;quot;I love the family that I grew up in, the strength and passion and the heart that we bring to things and then the way I was raised - the intense love we demonstrate.&amp;quot; The American Idol judge was recently honoured at the 17th annual Human Rights Campaign national dinner for her support of gay rights issues. View the latest celebrity pictures - photo gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a525512/jennifer-lopez-my-first-manager-told-me-to-change-my-body/>